£       4f KMI 

o      ^ 


AN 

AMERICAN    MERCHANT 


IN 


EUROPE,  ASIA,  AND  AUSTRALIA: 

A  SERIES  OF  LETTERS 

*" 

FROM 

JAVA,  SINGAPORK,   CHINA,  BKNOAL,   EGYPT,   THE  HOLY  LAND,   THE 

CRIMEA  AND  ITS  BATTLE  GROUNDS,   ENGLAND, 

MELBOURNE,  SYDNEY,  ETC.,  ETC. 


BY    GEO.    FRANCIS    TRAIN, 

OF    BOSTON. 


WITH    AN    INTRODUCTION    BY 

FREEMAN    HUNT,    A.M., 

EDITOR  OF  "  MERCHANTS'  MAGAZINE,"  ETC. 


NEW   YORK: 
G.     P.    PUTNAM    &    CO.,    321    BROADWAY. 

1857. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  In  the  year  185T,  by 

G.  P.  PUTNAM, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


E.  ORAIOHEAD,  PR1NTKE  AND  BTBEKOTTPKE, 

Caitou  iSuiTbing, 

81,  K3,'andSS'Ctnln  Slrttl 


TO 

ENOCH    TRAIN,    ESQ. 

OF     BOSTON, 

These  Inklings  from  foreign  lands  are  respectfully 
INSCRIBED 

IN     GRATEFUL     REMEMBRANCE 

OP    HIS    MANY    ACTS    OF    KINDNESS. 
23  i>  3,  (GraUuate 

OF  HIS 

COUNTING-    HOUSE. 


/     /  I 


_^* 

zr*  5? 


INTRODUCTION. 

Commercial  Literature  is  a  new  term.  I  have  sought 
to  make  it  acknowledged.  It  seems  to  have  been  thought 
that  the  only  books  for  a  merchant  to  read  or  to  write, 
were  those  formidable  rows  of  ponderous  ledgers,  deal- 
ing only  in  the  inexorable  logic  of  arithmetic,  to  which 
learning  was  a  stranger,  within  whose  lids  a  gleam  of 
fancy  or  of  humor  dare  not  intrude,  and  which  summed 
up  the  subjects  and  results  of  commerce,  in  the  uninvi- 
ting rhetoric  of  figures.  But  Commerce  no  longer  ling- 
ers around  its  ancient  haunts.  It  now  pervades  the 
world.  The  merchant  lays  his  hand  upon  the  entire 
products  of  the  globe,  in  all  the  changing  forms,  to 
which  human  industry  and  ingenuity  may  transmute 
them.  Agriculture  says  to  him,  "Behold  the  varied 
results  of  my  industry  in  different  climes,  it  is  yours  to 
make  them  useful  to  the  nations."  The  Manufacturer 
asks  him  to  carry  and  distribute  the  products  of  the 
loom.  Whatever  is  valuable  to  man,  calls  on  the  mer- 
chant for  help.  The  very  gold  which  the  sands  and 


INTRODUCTION. 


the  rocks  of  California  and  Australia  so  profusely  yield, 
requires  the  merchant's  ships  and  system  of  exchange 
to  make  it  of  the  value  it  really  represents.  Why  then 
shall  not  commerce  be  installed  among  the  occupations 
whose  achievements  shall  be  deemed  worthy  of  record, 
and  possess  a  literature  peculiarly  its  own.  To  give 
it  this  position,  to  preserve  its  doings  and  experiences, 
not  only  its  brilliant  successes,  but  its  gradual  march, 
to  give  permanent  record  to  the  whole  sweep  of  mer- 
cantile pursuits,  to  keep  alive  the  bright  names  that 
adorn  its  progress,  has  been  the  main  object  of  nearly 
twenty  years  of  my  life. 

It  has  seemed  to  me  coincident  with  the  general  scope 
of  these  labors,  to  gather  into  a  more  permanent  form, 
the  following  letters  of  a  young  American  merchant. 
They  contain  much  information  of  use  to  the  mercantile 
community.  They  were  written  on  ships  and  steamers, 
and  amidst  all  the  inconveniences,  hurry  and  bustle  of 
travel,  and,  from  the  author's  continued  absence,  abroad, 
have  not  the  benefit  of  his  revision.  They  therefore 
appear,  as  written  for  the  daily  journals,  with  all  their 
evidences  of  haste  upon  their  head.  From  such  deficien- 
cies they  are  redeemed  by  the  intelligence,  difficult  of 
access,  which  they  embody,  by  their  graphic  history  of 


INTRODUCTION. 


the  rise  and  progress  of  that  new  world  destined  to 
wield  the  sceptre  of  the  Southern  Seas,  by  their  statis- 
tical knowledge,  by  the  glow  and  sprightliness  of  their 
descriptions,  and  the  amusing  incidents  they  relate. 
The  history  of  the  countries  through  which  the  traveler 
passes  is  compressed  into  a  few  pages,  and  the  commer- 
cial details  are  enlivened  by  humor  and  wit.  Received 
with  distinction  by  the  merchant  princes  of  the  lands 
he  visited,  his  opportunities  were  rare  and  enviable — 
opportunities  which  he  has  not  failed  to  improve. 

The  author,  Mr.  GEORGE  FRANCIS  TRAIN,  went  from 
Boston  to  Australia  in  1853,  and  established,  at  Mel- 
bourne, the  prosperous  house  of  George  F.  Train  &  Co. 
with  which  he  is  still  connected.  During  his  residence 
of  thirty-two  months  at  Melbourne,  he  took  a  prominent 
and  active  part  in  all  measures  for  the  advancement  of 
the  colony,  and  when  he  left  was  honored  with  a  compli- 
mentary dinner  by  the  merchants  of  Melbourne.  His 
portrayal  of  the  marvelous  growth  of  that  city  from 
its  wharfless  condition  when  he  reached  there,  to  its 
present  commercial  position,  is  a  description  of  events 
which,  it  is  probable,  can  never  be  repeated  in  any  other 
portion  of  the  globe. 

For  this  correspondence  the  title  of  "  Young  America 


yi  INTRODUCTION. 

Abroad"  was  at  first  adopted — one  of  our  papers  having 
selected  the  author,  for  a  biographical  sketch,  "  as  a  rep- 
resentative of  the  young  American  merchant, — of  that 
Young  America  which  pours  its  energies  through  all  the 
channels  of  commerce  in  all  quarters  of  the  globe — which, 
at  home  or  abroad,  upholds  the  high  character  of  its 
country — which  is  ready  to  plant  itself  wherever  great 
achievements  await  it,  whether  amid  the  furs  of  the 
North  West  or  on  the  quays  of  the  seaboard  ;  now 
ploughing  the  Arctic  ices,  or  searching  for  new  points 
of  development  under  the  Equator ;  now  carrying  our 
flag  and  institutions  to  erect  them  on  the  golden  rocks 
of  California  ;  or,  as  if  not  finding  room  enough  within 
our  own  boundless  domain,  aiding  to  establish  a  new 
port,  build  a  new  city  and  create  a  new  commerce  on 
the  golden  soil  of  Australia." 

Indeed  we  must  allow  Mr.  Train  to  give  his  own 
ideas  on  this  subject  by  quoting  from  his  speeech  at 
Melbourne,  July  4th,  in  response  to  a  toast  to  "  G-.  F. 
Train  and  Young  America."  After  tracing  the  descent 
of  Young  America  for  a  thousand  years,  he  says  :— 

"But  if  the  retrospective  view  has  dazzled  us,  how 
much  more  astonishing  is  the  present ;  when  our  thir- 
teen little  States  are  rolling  on  towards  forty  living 


INTRODUCTION. 


Republics,  bound  together  as  one  nation ;  when  our 
three  millions  have  grown  to  thirty,  and  '  driven  by  the 
hand  of  God/  to  quote  De  Tocqueville,  'are  peopling 
the  Western  wilderness  at  the  average  rate  of  seventeen 
miles  per  annum  ;'  when  our  Lilliputian  commerce  has 
whitened  every  sea,  and  our  mother  tongue  has  worked 
its  way  into  every  land,  and  when  our  influence  and  our 
progress — like  the  ripple  in  mid-ocean — reaches  from 
shore  to  shore. 

"  Startle  not,  my  friends,  at  the  lightning  pace  of  the 
pilgrim's  steed.  He  is  sure  to  win  the  race, — naught 
stops  him  in  his  destiny  ;  when  danger  lurks  in  his  path- 
way, he  turns  high  his  head  and  snorts  a  proud  defiance 
at  the  precipice  that  would  have  ruined  him,  and  plunges 
on  to  victory.  *  *  *  Young  America  is  only  anoth- 
er edition  of  Old  England,  in  a  binding  peculiar  to  the 
New  World.  Young  John  Bull  in  his  shirt  sleeves, 
working  with  an  energy  that  commands  success.  Eng- 
land and  America  are  partners,  not  rivals.  The  young- 
er nation  is  the  junior,  who  manages  the  western  branch 
of  the  old  concern.  Youth  gives  activity,  and  hence 
the  young  man  opens  his  letters  before  breakfast,  on  the 
steps  of  the  post  office,  whilst  the  old  gentleman  prefers 
breaking  the  seal  in  dressing  gown  and  slippers  after 


Till  INTRODUCTION. 


dinner.  Young  America  showed  the  same  feelings  of 
independence  in  establishing  a  house  of  his  own,  that 
every  young  man  experiences  who  leaves  the  old  house 
to  earn  an  honest  livelihood  by  his  own  exertions. 

"In  this  instance,  however,  the  connection  with  the  old 
concern  is  of  more  value  than  that  with  the  balance  of 
the  world.  The  revolution  was  merely  an  animated 
conversation,  where  shot  and  cannon  were  introduced 
to  give  emphasis  to  the  debate,  and  when  the  disputed 
'point'  was  settled,  old  England  rose  with  renewed 
vigor,  in  Young  America.  The  sources  of  discord  soon 
began  to  dry,  and  now,  as  the  flower  turns  to  the  sun, 
the  needle  to  the  magnet,  the  child  to  its  mother,  as  the 
twin  brothers  of  Siam  receive  each  the  same  emotions, 
so  are  we  bound  by  speaking  the  same  language,  and 
worshipping  the  same  God,  to  remember  England,  the 
proud  old  mother  of  our  race, 

'  And  join  the  Stars  and  Stripes  and  Cross  in  one  fraternal  band, 
Till  Anglo-Saxon  faith  and  laws  illumine  every  land.' " 

FREHCAX  HUNT. 


CONTENTS. 


PART   I . 

PAGE. 
CHAPTER    I. 

Review  of  a  Thirty  Months'  Residence  in  the  Southern  El  Dorado — 
Fever  of  Australian  Speculation  in  1853-4 — Its  consequences  and 
Reaction — Government  Blunders — The  Mining  Troubles — Eco- 
nomical Reforms  in  the  Government  of  the  Colony — The  New 
Constitution — Its  Effect  upon  Existing  Parties — Australian  Na- 
tionality— Independence  Looming  in  the  Distance — A  Yankee 
Tour  of  Pleasure,  <fec.  18 

CHAPTER    II. 

Arrival  at  Batavia — The  American  Commercial  Marine — The  Java 
Boatman — Beauty  of  the  Coast  Scenery — The  Mangosteen — Ap- 
pearance of  the  Town — Novelty  of  the  Sights  that  meet  the 
Traveler's  Eye — Trade  of  Batavia — The  Climate,  <fec.,  <fec.  -  26 

CHAPTER    III. 

Life  of  Mercantile  Classes — Animated  Scene  on  the  Road  to  the  Mer- 
chants' Country  Residences — Description  of  their  Villas — The 
Native  Population — A  Dutch  Reformer — A  Java  Hotel — Batavia 
Cookery — The  Race  Course — Contre  Temps  of  a  Stranger — Curi- 
ous Habits  of  the  Javanese,  <fec.,  Ac. 33 

CHAPTER    IV. 

Interior  of  the  Island — Javanese  Conveyances — Malay  Post  Boys 
— The  Plantations — A  Javanese  Marriage — Wonderful  Sights — 
The  Whole  Book  of  Nature  Opened  in  a  Three  Hours'  Ride — 


Xii  CONTENTS. 

PAGH. 

The  Government  House — Official  Receptions — Population  ana 
Administration  of  the  Dutch  Colonies — Their  Revenues,  Expendi- 
tures, <fec. — The  Europeans  oc  the  Islands — Effects  of  the  Climate 
on  their  Constitutions — Political  History  of  Java — The  Native 
Population — Departure,  <fec.,  <fcc.  40 

CHAPTER    V. 

The  Voyage  to  Singapore — Our  Fellow  Passengers — Olla  Podrida 
of  Nationalities — Pilgrims  to  Mecca — Arab  Women — Arrival  at 
Miii to — Off  Singapore' — Dutch  Diplomacy  in  Japan — Commerce 
with  that  Empire — The  Hollanders  Catching  the  Bird  while  other 
Nations  are  Beating  the  Bush — The  American  Treaty  with  Japan 
BO  much  Waste  Paper — The  Javanese  Mail  System — A  Political 
Discussion  at  a  Dutch  Dinner  Table — The  Dutch  Navy  in  the 
Indian  Archipelago,  <fec.,  <fec. 63 

CHAPTER    VI. 

A  Singapore  Hotel — Its  Inconveniences  and  Horrors — Importance 
of  Singapore  as  a  Commercial  Rendezvous — The  Opium  Privilege 
— Scenery  of  the  Island — Environs  of  the  City — The  Population, 
Native  and  Foreign — The  Chinese  Millionaire,  Wampoa — Trade  of 
Singapore — The  Malay  Pirates — American  Commerce  in  the  In- 
dian Archipelago — Siam  and  its  Exclusiveness — Efforts  to  Open 
its  Trade — Horrors  of  the  Coolie  Traffic,  <fcc.,  Ac.  66 

CHAPTER    VII. 

More  about  the  Coolie  Trade — Numbers  of  American  Vessels  En- 
gaged in  it — Statistical  History  of  the  Commerce  of  Singapore 
Colonial  Budget  for  1853-'54 — The  Press  of  the  Island — Commer- 
cial Notes,  &c.,  <fec. 78 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Departure  from  Singapore — Steaming  in  the  Chinese  Seas — Pleas- 
ures of  Traveling  with  an  Opium  Cargo — Distinguished  Passen- 
gers— a  Man  Overboard — Appearance  of  Hong  Kong — Volcanic 
Aspect  of  the  Island — Its  Political  History — Impolicy  of  the 


CONTENTS. 


PAOT. 

Measures  Adopted  in  San  Francisco  towards  Chinese. Emigrants 
— The  Lions  of  Hong  Kong,  &c.        -         -         -        -        -        -        86 

CHAPTER    IX. 

First  Impressions  of  Canton — The  BoatWomen  of  the  Port — Chinese 
Bloomers — New  Year's  Calls — The  Lions — The  Clubs — Chinese 
Lingo — Political  Restraints — Commerce  of  Canton — The  Parsees 
of  the  Factories,  <fcc.  --  -  -  -'-  -  -  97 

CHAPTER    X. 

Trip  along  the  Coast — Sea  Shore  Scenery — Villages,  Fortifications, 
Mountains  and  Temples — The  Hong  Kong  and  Shanghae  Steam- 
ers— Their  Profits,  Specie  Lists  and  Cargo— A  Mandarin  and  his 
Suite — Coolie  Trade  of  Swatow — The  British  Attack  on  the 
Pirates — Desperation  of  the  Gang.  -  -  -  -  -  103 

CHAPTER    XI. 

Arrival  at  Woosung — Anticipating  the  Mails — The  Opium  Trade — 
Adventure  in  the  Chinese  Seas — The  Missionary  Establishments 
— The  Foreign  settlements  at  Shanghae — Ingenuity  of  the  Chinese 
Mechanics — Interior  Life  of  the  Hongs — The  Streets  of  a  Chinese 
City — Model  Baths  and  "VVashhouses — Opium  Dens — A  Joss  House 
— A  Chinese  Tribunal — Charitable  Institutions — Club  Houses, 
Ac.,  <fec.  I  *  .  m»i«;  —  f  =j-«y  '•*•  '..,»•  '.f*-.,*.  -•,-•  »-.-  ^  •  •  10T 

CHAPTER    XII 

The  Merchants  of  Shanghae — Trade  with  Japan — The  Voyage  of  a 
New  London  Trader  to  Simoda — His  disappointment  and  Subse- 
quent Adventures — Value  of  the  Perry  Treaty — Shanghae  as  a 
Whaling  Station — Future  Progress  of  that  City — Its  Government, 
Trade,  Population  and  Climate — Banks  and  Rate  of  Exchange — 
Mercantile  Routine  and  Salary  of  Clerks — A  Ball  and  the  Ladies  123 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

Departure  from  Shanghae,  en  route  to  Hong  Kong — Threatening 
"Weather — Navigation  of  the  Yang-tze-Kang — New  Scenes — Ug- 


CONTENTS. 


PACK. 

Her  natives  and  Another  Language — Boating  in  the  River  Min — 
Gunning  and  Tall  Game— Foo-chow  City — Its  Trade — Foreign 
Population — Young  America  About  Town — Narrow  Streets, 
Crowds,  Bustle  and  Noise — Meeting  a  High  Official — A  Curious 
Old  Priest  in  a  Cage — Beauties  of  the  Country.  -  -  -  130 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

Navigation  In  the  Chinese  Seas — The  Horns  of  a  Dilemma — Macao 
Its  Former  Magnificence  and  present  desolate  Aspect — Camoens 
— Coolie  Store  Houses — Chinese  Sense  of  Commercial  Honor — 
The  Bogue  Forts— Canton — The  Foreign  Cemetery — Trade  at 
Hong  Kong,  <fcc.,  <fec.  --------  144 

CHAPTER    XV. 

Books  in  China — Discordancy  of  Views  in  Relation  to  its  Religious 
Future — History  of  the  Opium  Trade — Noble  Declaration  of  the 
Emperor — Interesting  Statistics  of  the  Trade — A  Practical  Sub- 
ject for  English  Philanthropy — Precept  and  Practice,  <fcc.,  153 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

The  Philosophy  of  Chinese  History — The  Lessons  which  it  Teaches 
— Secret  Political  Societies  in  the  Celestial  Empire — Their  Ob- 
jects and  Influence — The  War  of  Great  Britain  with  China — Its 
Benefits  to  the  Commerce  of  the  World — Origin  of  the  Present 
Rebellion — Its  True  Causes  Explained — Christianity  Not  its  Main- 
spring, as  is  Erroneously  Supposed — Comparison  between  the 
Romish  and  Protestant  Missionaries — Resemblance  between  the 
Romish  and  Bhudhist  Forms  of  Worship* — Extraordinary  Spread 
of  Education  amongst  the  Chinese  Population — National  Charac- 
teristics, dec.,  Ac.  -  -  '*':'-  -  -  -  -  164 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

Will  American  Trade  with  China  Increase  ? — What  the  Continen- 
tal Countries  have  Done — Their  Commercial  Intercourse  with 
China  and  their  Failures — Russia  more  Active — Intercourse  with 
Siam — Novel  Yankee  Speculation — Anglo-Saxon  Enterprise — 


CONTENTS.  XT 


PAGE. 

How  the  Americans  were  Introduced  to  the  Chinese — Trade  Sta- 
tistics of  Canton — What  the  People  Pay  for  Opium — Tea  Freights 
— How  "  Young  America  "  can  get  in — Missionary  Influence — 
What  American  Steamships  may  do — What  the  People  Want  and 
what  they  can  Return.  .,-  -  -  -  -  -  -  178 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Trip  from  Hong  Kong  to  Calcutta — Scenes  Along  the  Indian  Coast 
— A  Submarine  Diver  Operating  in  the  East — Reminiscences  of 
Japan — Value  of  the  Perry  Treaty — Arrival  in  the  Hoogly  River 
— Steam  Competition  between  India  and  China — Cost  of  the 
Voyages.  187 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

Trade  of  Calcutta — Immense  Fleet  of  Vessels — Pilots'  Monopoly — 
Approach  to  the  City — Temples,  Trees  and  Bungalows — A  City 
Hotel  and  City  Crowd — Metropolitan  Sights — The  Mint,  Museum, 
Floral  Exhibition,  and  Great,  Men,  <fec.  -  -  -  -  ,  194 

CHAPTER    XX. 

Calcutta  Society — Entertainment  to  Lady  Canning — The  Ball  and 
its  Beauties — The  Supper  and  Celebrities  Present — Ladies,  War- 
riors and  Rulers — Eastern  Costumes  and  High  Dignitaries — 
Lord  Canning's  Rule,  <fec. 203 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

An  Evening  Drive — Glorious  Sunset — Scenes  in  the  Suburbs  of  Cal- 
cutta— A  Glance  at  the  River — Forts  on  the  Banks — Notabilities 
out  Riding — Lord  Dalhousie's  Departure.  -  -  -  211 

CHAPTER    XXII. 

Botany  and  Natural  History  at  and  from  Barrackpore — A  Visit  to 
the  Gardens — Hindoo  Temples,  Piety  and  Worshippers — Burning 
of  the  Dead — European  Tradesmen  in  Calcutta — Nat:ve  Gam- 
bling— The  Ochterlong  Monument — A  Look  at  the  City  from  the 
Top,  <fec. .-.  219 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

PAGE 

Dative  Merchants  of  Calcutta — How  They  do  Business — The  Ba- 
boos  at  Home — Cashmere  Goats — More  Amusement — Theatricals 
— The  American  Ice  House.  .  -  -  -  -  -  229 

CHAPTER    XXIY. 

Run  from  Calcutta  to  Suez — A  Retrospect  of  Indian  History — The 
First  Ovei-land  Journey — The  Company  and  its  Commanders — 
The  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta.  ....  235 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

Indian  History  Continued — Shifting  of  English  Politicians  with 
Respect  to  Her — The  Annexed  Territory — Telegraphs  and  Rail- 
ways— Effects  of  Conquest  -  246 

CHAPTER    XXVI. 

A  Crowded  Steamer — Monopoly  of  the  Eastern  Company — Their 
Ships,  Receipts  and  Expenses — Arrival  in  Madras — What  Strang- 
ers See.  265 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 

Run  from  Madras  to  Aden — Ashore  at  Point  de  Galle — The  Hotels 
— How  Aden  was  Taken  from  the  Arabs — Its  Population  and 
Situation.  •'"-'•  -"  '-"'  '*-'•  "V  '  Jp  ;  '- •"„  '"-''.  •  "^ '-  261 

CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

Landing  Place  of  the  Israelites — Europeans  going  Home — Manners 
of  some  Indian  Residents — Etiquette  of  Eastern  Officials — What 
they  Think  of  the  United  States — Hints  to  Travelers.  -  -  266 

CHAPTER    XXIX. 

City  of  Suez — Its  Population — Hotels  and  Trade — What  it  Was 
and  What  it  Is — Travel  to  Cairo — Camels,  Caravans  and  Pil- 
grims— A  Glimpse  of  the  Pyramids.  '•".--"  *  •  •  •-  --  271 

CHAPTER    XXX. 
A  Cairo  Hotel  and  its  Charges — A  Ramble  through  the  City — Royal 


CONTEXTS.  xvii 

PACK. 

Tragedies — How  to  Look  at  Alexandria — Europeans  in  the  City 
— Entry  to  the  Seraglio. 276 

CHAPTER    XXXI. 

Said  Pasha's  Improvements — Railway  Progress  in  Egypt — Donkey 
Boys  at  the  Pyramids — A  Look  at  the  Great  "Wonders.  -  -  286 

CHAPTER    XXXII. 

Sensations  after  a  Journal  to  Jerusalem — Comforts  in  Syria — The 
City  of  Jaffa — People  Met  by  the  Way — The  American  Univer- 
sity— Reptiles  at  the  Holy  Tombs — Mount  of  Olives  and  the  Jor- 
dan— The  Arabs  and  Missionaries — An  Excitement  and  Incidents.  292 

CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

Tour  in  the  Levant — Alexandria,  Jaffa  and  Constantinople — Cost 
of  the  Journey  and  Hire  of  a  Dragoman — How  a  Dragoman  can 
Bully,  Pray  and  Cheat — Civilization  of  the  Turks  towards  their 
Conquered — Caiffa,  the  Hill  of  Carmel,  ita  Convent,  and  Elijah, 
and  Napoleon — Acre  and  its  Generals — A  Run  and  Ride  in  the 
Country — A  Ball  at  a  Pasha's  Palace — Glimpse  of  a  Lady  of  the 
Harem — Zeno's  Birth  place. -  -  -  802 

CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

The  Passage  from  Constantinople  to  Kamiesch,  and  its  Cost — How 
the  French  manage  the  Post  Office — Crowds  of  Soldiers,  Sailors, 
Ships-of-War,  Gunboats  and  Traders — Scenery  on  the  Bospho- 
rus — The  Allied  Dead  and  how  they  went  to  the  Grave — How 
you  enter  the  Eamiesch  Bay — American  Ships  in  Port,  and  how 
they  were  Admired.  -  -  - 311 

CHAPTER    XXXV. 

The  Miles.Horses,  Roads  and  General  Travel  to  Balakiava — Extent 
of  the  Allied  Lines — A  First  look  at  Sebastopol  in  Ruins — her 
Eastern  Fortresses  and  Sand  Bags — Thoughts  on  the  Battle  Fields 
— Energy  and  Good  Breeding  of  the  Russian  Officers — How  the 
Allied  Troops  Agreed. -  '  •  318 


xviii  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

PAGE 

How  Balaklava  Port  could  have  been  Defended — What  it  is  and 
•what  it  was — Our  Trade  with  England  and  the  East — What  the 
English  and  French  Leave  to  the  Russians — The  Glories  of  Sar- 
dinia. -  "-  '"-  -  -  -  -  -  326 

CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

The  Battle  Ground  on  the  Tchernaya — General  Liprandi's  Last 
Effort — Dangerous  Sport — Military  Drunkenness  and  Boston 
Rum — How  the  North  Side  of  Sebastopol  Looks — Todtleben's 
Energy — The  Diplomats  of  Russia — English  Growlers  Abroad — 
Russian  Feeling  Towards  France — Policy  of  Austria  and  England 
— What  the  French  say  to  Americans  of  the  British — Republi- 
canism of  the  French  Army — The  Losses  of  the  Russian  War,  <fec.  333 

CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

Retrospective  glances ;  Arrival  in  London — Reflections — Australian 
remembrances — Melbourne,  Sydney  and  Tasmania — The  Spice 
Islands — China — India  and  Voyage  to  Egypt — The  Desert — The 
Delta  and  the  Pyramids — Alexandria  and  its  Old  Associations — 
Joppa  to  Jerusalem — Bethlehem — Biblical  Memories — Port  of 
Asia  Minor — Islands  of  the  Levant — Stambonl  and  the  Bospho- 
rus — The  Euxine  and  the  Crimea — Modern  War — Sebastopol — 
Kameisch  and  Balaklava — Return  via  the  Ionian  Islands — Land- 
ing at  Trieste — Austrian  Bayonets  and  Austrian  Espionage — Con- 
tinental tour — No  time  lost  in  passing  through  the  Hemisphere.  342 


CONTENTS. 


PART    II. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PACK. 

Out  at  Sea — A  Storm — The  Ship  in  the  Storm — Appearance  of  my 
Room — Appearance  of  Myself. 35Y 

CHAPTER    II. 

Sunset  at  Sea — Entertaining  Books — Equipments  for  Sea — Amuse- 
ments— A  variety  of  Amusements — Our  best  bit  of  Fun — "  Cross- 
ing of  the  Line  " — Our  Sport  at  Night. 362 

CHAPTER    III. 

Landing  at  Melbourne — Thoughts  of  the  New  Comer — The  Resolu- 
tion to  Work. 869 

CHAPTER    IV. 

The  Situation  of  Melbourne — Want  of  Timber  in  the  Colony — 
Enormous  Capital,  but  no  Business.  .-'*;'-  -  -  -  878 

CHAPTER    V. 

Hunting  for  the  News-room — We  Start  an  Exchange — We  Consult 
the  Governor  about  it — Buildings — Enormous  High  Rents — Seek- 
ing for  Board — Newspapers — A  Thought  of  Wilkins  Micawber.  37Y 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Feeling  against  the  Miner's  License-Fee — The  Governor  and  Legis- 
lative Council — Rival  Editors.  -  -  -  -..  f  .  .  334 

CHAPTER   VII. 

Mitchel  attempts  Escape — Throws  up  his  Parole — Mitchel  in  Dis- 
guise— Ireland.  -  -  -  -  -  .-  ;-  -  -  388 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Poor  Accommodations — The  Governor — Church  of  England — Lack 
of  School  Houses — License  Forms — Digger's  Hardships — Strange 
Dialect.  -  - 393 


XX          -  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

PACK. 

Refuse  of  England's  Jails — Lawless  Vengeance — Wholesale  Assas- 
sins— Humorous  Executions.  -  -  -  -._.  •  •  , .  .r  -  401 

CHAPTER    X. 
Lack  of  Fire  Engines— Fancy  Ball. 406 

CHAPTER    XI. 
Fictitious  Reports — Youthful  Speculations— Wild  Data.      -         -       409 

CHAPTER    XII. 

Americans  starting  Fire  Companies — Dust  Kept  Down — American 
'  Beverages.        ,-.-..-.-  413 

CHAPTER    XIII. 
The  Parliament — House  of  Assembly — Sad  Funeral— Dying  Abroad.  417 

CHAPTER    XIV. 
Beauty  0$  Natural  Scenery — Sydney — Elegant  Liveries.     -        -      422 

CHAPTER    XV. 

Beasts  and  Birds — View  from  the  Heads — Forces  at  Sydney.      -       426 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

Squadron  of  Old  Whalers — Social  Generosity — Dinner  at  the  Gov- 
ernment House — Australian  Legislators — Hospitality  of  the  Gov- 
ernor, r  -y  ;'f  .•  , 480 

CHAPTER    XVII. 
Surplus  Imports — Gold  Crop. 436 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

The  Exiles — Irish  Patriots— rThe  new  Governor — The  Procession — 
Rapid  Improvements.  ......  439 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XIX 

PAGE. 

Extensive  Robberies — Australian  Peculiarities — Curiosities — Kate 
Hays.  -^  -  -^  -  -"-  •'-.  -'"  •  •.-*-•  '•-.-'  ->'  445 

CHAPTER    XX. 

Gold  Field,  versus  Employment — Products — Profits  of  Digging — 
Gold  Statistics — Financial  Troubles — Insolvency — Cash  Business 
Banks — Freights — Prospects — Railroad  Collision.  -  450 

CHAPTER    XXI. 
Telegraph — Clippers. 462 

CHAPTER    XXII. 

The  Derwent — The  Army — Tasmanian  Legislation — Adieu  to  Ho- 
bartTown.  ...  465 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 
City  Nomenclature — Convict  Tread  Mill — Clearance  Permit      -      470 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

Steam  Mail  Lines — Overland  Route — Panama  Route — Estimated 
Passage — Cost  of  Trip — Advantage  of  Isthmus  Route — Postal 
Communication — Emigration — Trade  with  Africa — Uniting  Col- 
onies with  Great  Britain — General  Opinion  in  Favor  of  Isthmus 
— Mail  Service — Melbourne  the  Grand  Centre — Telegraphs — Pub- 
lic Enterprises — Contemplated  Mail  Line.  475 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

Introductory  Remarks — Population  of  Australia — Production  and 
Location  of  the  Gold  Fields — Price  of  Gold — Banking  Companies 
in  Victoria — Commercial  Affairs — Summary  of  American  Ship- 
ping—  Imports  and  Exports — Flour  Trade  —  Insurance — Rail- 
roads— Custom  House  and  Exchange — Postal  Communications — 
Distances  of  Routes,  etc.  --  -  -  -  -  -492 


YOUNG  AMEEICA  ABEOAD. 


PORT  PHILIP  HEADS,  Australia,  November,  8  1855,  ) 
ON  BOARD  SHIP  DASIHNG  WAVE,  FOR  BATAVIA.      ) 

Review  of  a  Thirty  Months'  Residence  in  the  Southern  El  Dorado — 
Fever  of  Australian  Speculation  in  1853-4 — Its  Consequences  and 
Reaction — Government  Blunders — The  Mining  Troubles — Economi- 
cal Reforms  in  the  Government  of  the  Colony — The  New  Constitution 
— Itg  Effect  upon  Existing  Parties — Australian  Nationality — Inde- 
pendence Looming  in  the  Distance — A  Yankee  Tour  of  Pleasure,  tfcc. 

UP  with  the  anchor  and  loose  the  canvass,  for  the  ship  is  in 
trim,  the  pilot  is  on  board,  the  wind  bids  fair,  the  tide  is  with 
us,  and  I  at  last  am  homeward  bound.  So,  cheerily,  my  hear- 
ties, and  we'll  soon  be  on  the  road.  How  pleasant  the  pros- 
pect !  how  delightful  the  sound  !  For  three  years  is  a  long 
time  to  be  absent  from  the  stirring  scenes  of  the  great  republic, 
and  I  assure  you  I  cheerish  no  small  desire  once  more  to  be  in 
my  native  land.  But  before  I  give  the  last  parting  look  at  the 
country  that  has  treated  me  so  well — before  Point  Nepean  is 
hid  in  the  distance,  and  Otway  looms  up  on  our  starboard  bow 
— I  will  once  again  resume  my  long  neglected  correspondence, 
and  give  you  a  glance  at  Australia  as  she  is. 


14  AUSTRALIAN    SPECULATIONS. 


Thirty  months  have  elapsed  since  I  paid  my  subscription  to 
the  HERALD — a  lifetime  almost  in  this  startling  age — and  said 
adios  to  the  friends  I  left  behind  me,  as  the  Bavaria  spread  her 
sails  for  the  Southern  El  Dorado.  Can  it  be  possible  that  I  am 
so  old  a  colonist  ?  I  cannot  credit  it,  yet  such  is  the  fact,  for  time 
flies  like  a  railroad  to  the  resident  in  a  gold  country.  When  I 
left  the  East  river  the  excitement  was  at  its  height,  and  Austra- 
lia was  the  only  topic  in  the  streets,  oil  'Change,  at  the  club,  or 
in  the  counting  house.  Drays  and  trucks  were  early  and  late, 
carting  down  the  merchandise,  and  piers  and  wharves  were  full 
of  packages,  while  the  columns  of  the  New  York  papers  told 
the  merits  of  some  thirty  or  forty  ships,  all  for  Melbourne,  filled 
with  every  description  of  merchandise  ;  and  the  fever  was  also 
raging  in  almost  every  commercial  port.  Flour  from  the  Cape, 
flour  from  the  West  coast,  flour  from  England,  and  100,000 
barrels  from  America,  gave  the  ships  good  freights,  but 
caused  disaster  and  loss  of  the  shippers.  Our  ship  alone  had 
some  8,000  barrels.  Speculation  was  wild  with  the  expected 
profits,  and  when  three  months'  good  sailing  brought  us  to  our 
anchorage  in  Hobson's  bay,  we  began  to  realize  how  extensive 
had  been  the  panic  and  how  reckless  the  shipping  world  ;  for 
even  then,  May,  1853,  the  markets  for  cash  were  already  out 
of  sight  for  everything  but  lumber.  The  bay  was  full  of  ship- 
ping, from  Williamstown  to  Sandridge,  nothing  but,  one  com- 
plete forest  of  masts.  But  now  how  different.  The  thrilling 
changes  that  have  swept  over  the  the  political  horizon  of 
Europe  are  not  more  wonderful,  than  the  appearance  of  Hob- 
son's  bay  now  and  when  I  landed.  This  morning  I  could  not 
count  twenty  ships  in  the  roadstead  ;  then  between  six  and 
seven  hundred  were  crowding  each  other  for  more  room.  All 
parts  of  the  world  were  represented  and  every  production  in 


ITS    CONSEQUENCES   AND   REACTION.  15 


Christendom  could  be  found  among  the  cargoes.  None  but 
those  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  look  over  the  statistics  at  the 
customs  will  understand  the  extent  of  Australian  speculation  in 
1853  and  1854. 

One  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars  worth  of  imports  in 
two  years  time,  for  a  population  of  scarcely  300,000  souls  I  I 
was  one  of  the  first  Americans  on  the  spot,  and  living  through 
what  the  colonist  call  the  good  and  bad  times,  and  having  had 
some  forty  thousand  tons  of  shipping  to  my  own  address,  I  have 
been  in  a  good  position  to  see  something  of  the  extent  to  which 
our  wants  were  overestimated,  and  the  consequent  embarrass- 
ment of  such  misjudged  calculations.  We  have  gone  through 
the  commercial  revolution  which  every  young  and  old  country 
experiences  at  some  time  in  its  history  ;  and  when  the  accounts 
of  the  three  hundred  and  fifty  firms  who  have  taken  some  twen- 
ty-five or  thirty  millions  of  dollars  through  the  Insolvent  Court 
are  squared,  a  few  of  the  Australian  houses  will  do  a  large  and 
profitable  business.  The  bird  will  rise  from  its  ashes,  and  the 
country  and  colony  will  start  ahead  afresh',  stimulated  by  the 
new  blood  which  slowly  and  surely  is  uprooting  the  prejudices 
of  the  old  settlers,  who  looked  upon  reform  or  enterprise  as  a 
crime  of  which  only  Americans  were  guilty. 

When  we  see  the  number  of  individual  firms  that  were 
swamped  when  the  tables  turned,  and  remember  the  number 
of  joint  stock  companies  that  were  fast  in  the  mud,  we  cannot 
wonder  that  the  government  got  into  the  same  mess.  The  im- 
mense* sums  paid  by  the  miners  for  a  while  in  license  fees  over- 
flowed the  treasury,  and  then  followed  the  most  reckless  expen- 
diture the  world  ever  saw,  and  such  an  inebriated  state  of  ac- 
counts no  mortal  even  balanced.  No  wonder  Mr.  Latrobe 
wished  to  resign  the  gubernatorial  honors  ;  for,  poor  man,  the 


GOVERNMENT   BLUNDERS. 

attacks  of  the  Argus,  and  the  rapid  change  of  the  times,  almost 
drove  him  mad  ;  and  not  being  equal  to  the  cry  of  reform,  he 
tried  the  Panama  route  on  the  Golden  Age,  in  May,  1854,  and 
cut  himself  adrift  from  the  confusion  into  which  the  gold  dis- 
coveries, under  an  irresponsible  government,  had  thrown  the 
affairs  of  the  State.  The  Governor  had  lived,  moved,  and  had 
his  being  so  long  among  the  squatters,  as  Superintendent  of  a 
sheep  country  numbering  some  50,000  souls,  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  enlarge  his  views  of  administration  so  as  to  comprise 
the  250,000  immigrants  which  the  diggings  had  brought  into 
the  country.  The  times  had  changed ;  other  metal  was  want- 
ed. A  good  overseer  for  the  old  regime,  he  was  a  poor  head 
for  the  new.  The  times  had  changed,  but  he  had  not  changed 
with  them.  Hence  the  disgust  of  the  new  merchants  who  were 
pouring  in  from  every  part  of  the  compass,  at  the  apparent  im- 
becility of  the  administration,  in  not  furnishing  harbor  facilities, 
wharf  accommodation,  or  anything  worthy  of  such  a  country, 
with  such  a  revenue.  The  land  question  was  rotten,  and  a  gar- 
den or  a  farm  could  not  be  had  for  love  or  money.  Hence  the 
inflation  in  all  kinds  of  real  estate,  which  has  gradually  fallen, 
till  it  rules  about  seventy  per  cent  less  than  its  estimated  value 
then.  The  government  said,  and  with  some  degree  of  reason, 
everybody  was  too  much  occupied  with  his  own  affairs  to  legis- 
late ;  but  the  fact  is,  all  new  comers  were  too  disgusted  to 
move,  for  what  could  be  done  when  the  whole  colony  was  in 
the  hands  of  a  class  ?  You  might  as  well  have  asked  a  Southern 
planter  to  part  with  his  estate  as  an  Australian  squatter  at 
that  time  to  give  up  a  small  portion  of  his  agricultural  station. 
Well,  matters  were  in  this  state  when  the  home  government, 
with  their  usual  penetration,  instead  of  sending  out  a  sound, 
practical  man  of  business,  like  Sir  William  Deunison,  picked  us 


THE    MINING   TROUBLES. 


n 


out  a  captain  in  the  Navy,  who  had  been  knighted  for  some 
diplomacy,  in  South  America,  (which  he  acknowledged  was  suc- 
cessfully managed  through  the  assistance  of  the  American  offi- 
cials in  the  place)  to  lead  us  forward  among  the  nations.  Dis- 
gusted with  the  past,  the  new  representative  was  received 
with  an  ovation  worthy  a  Caesar  or  a  Napoleon — which  dem- 
onstration from  a  people  who  had  prayed  so  long  for  a  change, 
did  so  inflate  his  Royal  Highness,  that  he  set  about  making 
speeches  to  the  diggers,  telling  them  "all  power  proceeded 
from  the  people,"  and  promising  all  kinds  of  reform.  This  was 
a  brilliant  debut — but  it  was  too  good  to  last.  The  promises 
were  not  kept — the  diggers  became  enraged  at  the  brutal  man- 
ners of  the  officials  who  collected  license  fees,  and  then  came 
the  derisive  cry  of  "  JOE  !"  and  the  upsetting  of  the  American 
wagon,  injuring  poor  Captain  Young,  of  Newburyport.  The 
rebel  stockade  on  the  Eureka — the  reform  league — the  surprise 
by  the  troopers — the  death  of  some  forty  or  fifty  on  both  sides 
— the  two  months'  trial  of  the  thirty  prisoners  arrested,  without 
succeeding  In  convicting  a  single  man — the  hue  and  cry  against 
the  government  by  stump  orators  on  the  public  square  or  in 
front  of  the  Court  House — and  the  consequent  resignation  of 
the  Colonial  Secretary,  Mr.  Foster,  who  lost  his  pension  by  the 
sudden  exit  from  power — all  of  which,  together  with  the  contin- 
ued hammering  of  the  press,  made  Sir  Charles  Hotham  appear 
anything  but  a  nosegay  in  the  nostrils  of  the  people.  Never 
did  man  have  so  great  a  fall  in  so  short  a  time — received,  as  it 
were — one  month  with  a  triumph,  the  next  left  without  a  friend ! 
His  Saturday  dinners  to  sixteen,  and  his  state  suppers  and 
Toorak  balls,  without  champagne,  were  not  sufficient  to  regain 
the  popularity  which  he  had  lost ;  hence  at  the  present  time 
there  is  hardly  an  individual,  whether  he  be  an  official  under 


* 


18  ECONOMICAL    REFORMS. 


government,  digger  on  the  Balarat,  merchant  at  his  office,  or 
squatter  on  his  station,  that  will  say  a  kind  word  for  our  Gov- 
ernor when  his  name  is  mentioned. 

To  give  every  one  his  due,  there  is  one  thing  that  must  be 
admitted.  The  expense  of  the  government  has  been  materially 
reduced,  and  thetfinance  department  begins  to  look  more  cheer- 
ing, and  some  of  the  long  winded  accounts  have  been  overlook- 
ed and  the  Augean  stables  of  the  official  chambers  have  been 
cleared  of  their  accumulated  confusion.  Income  and  expendi- 
diture  are  now  more  nearly  balanced,  and  the  former  increases 
with  the  yield  of  gold.  The  export  duty  of  half  a  crown  an 
ounce  (sixty-two  cents)  has  been  a  godsend,  and  works  admira- 
bly. A  million  and  a  half  of  dollars  will  be  realized  from  this 
source  alone  during  the  present  year.  Three-fourths,  if  not 
seven-eights,  of  all  the  gold  is  purchased  by  the  banks  for  ship- 
ment, who  send  some  50,000  ounces  by  every  packet  ;  and 
heuce  the  duty  is  easily  collected,  and  vigilance  prevents  smug- 
gling. The  tax  is  equal  to  about  four  per  cent  ad  valorem  on 
all  imports,  and  falls  equally  and  fairly  on  those  who  get  the 
gold.  This  duty  has  helped  the  ministers  immensely  in  paying 
off  their  extravagance  ;  and  this  sum,  together  with  the  import 
tax  (specific)  on  sugar,  coffee,  tea,  wines,  spirits  and  tobacco, 
and  the  miners'  license,  the  sale  of  lauds  and  the  tonnage  duty 
of  twenty-four  cents  per  ton  on  all  shipping  (a  most  outrageous 
charge),  will  give  the  government  a  clear  field,  and  possibly  a 
surplus  in  the  treasury..  But  in  no  place  more  than  in  a  new 
country,  and  especially  this,  made  up  and  composed  as  it  is  of 
such  a  mixed  and  wandering  population,  are  practical  men 
more  required  at  the  head  of  affairs  ;  and  all  well  wishers  of 
the  colony  and  responsible  government  are  looking  ahead  with 
no  small  degree  of  interest  to  the  action  of  the  new  constitution, 


THE    NEW    CONSTITUTION.  19 


which  has  just  reached  us  from  England.  The  present  Legis- 
lative Council  has  the  power  to  mark  out  the  electoral  districts, 
and  the  greatest  activity  has  taken  place  among  the  squatters 
to  get  iii  their  friends,  bnt  thus  far  without  success  in  the  city 
districts.  Cruickshank,  late  Chairman  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, and  prince  of  the  squatters,  has  just  been  shockingly 
defeated  in  one  of  the  most  violent  contests  the  place  has  ever 
recorded.  Ray,  a  merchant  and  anti-squatter,  was  the  success- 
ful candidate.  "Dr.  Enabling  also  has  defeated  Tennent,  squat- 
ter, and  from  present  appearances  their  cause  looks  slim.  They 
have  never  yet  had  a  bona  fide  lease  of  their  stations,  only  a 
letter,  saying  that  the  documents  should  be  forthcoming  ;  and 
thus  they  have  gone  on  for  years  without  getting  any  title.  The 
leases,  however,  have  most  all  run  out.  Under  the  new  consti- 
tution the  Governor  is  stripped  of  his  power,  having  no  priv- 
ilege of  nominees  ;  and  is  obliged  to  select  his  cabinet  from  the 
representatives  of  the  people.  The  veto  power  has  been  reserv- 
ed to  him,  but  bold  will  be  the  man  who  moves  in  opposition  to 
the  majority  of  the  members.  Most  of  the  new  concillors  are 
violent  radicals,  and  will  prove  more  than  a  match  for  the  con- 
servatives. The  land  question  will  at  once  be  settled,  and  then 
we  commence  our  glorious  career. 

Improvement  will  be  seen  everywhere.  Government  works 
on  a  grand  scale  will  shoot  ahead,  and  money  will  be  raised  by 
debentures  on  the  public  lands,  so  as  to  let  posterity  pay  a 
portion  of  the  debt.  We  possess  every  element  of  posterity — 
young  in  years,  but  old  enough,  in  my  opinion,  to  slip  the 
painter,  cut  adrift  from  the  Old  Country,  which  hangs  over  us 
like  an  incubus,  and  become  a  nation  of  ourselves  ?  But  the 
population  are  slow  to  move — with  that  peculiar  love  of  country 
characteristic  of  the  English  people,  they  are  apathetic  in  rais- 


20  ITS   EFFECT   UPON 


ing  a  flag  of  their  own.  But  sooner  or  later  it  must  come,  and 
now  it  seems  to  me  is  the  time  to  move.  Every  merchant  and 
every  man  should  strive  to  build  up  a  nationality,  for  united 
action  is  essential.  The  new  blood  in  the  Legislative  Assembly 
will  gradually  work  out  our  destiny,  for  most  of  the  members, 
while,  they  still  cherish  a  love  for  Old  England,  feel  their  affec- 
tion strengthening  for  young  Australia.  There  are  now  about 
eight  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  souls  in  all  the  colonies,  am- 
ply sufficient  to  make  a  commencement ;  but  local  jealousies,  for 
a  time,  prevent  unity  of  purpose  ;  that  will  soon  work  away  ; 
and  once  connect  them  by  the  magnetic  wire,  they  will  soon  know 
each  other  better.  This  talking  across  the  mountains  and  plains 
by  the  telegraph  produces  the  right  kind  of  friendship.  Then 
the  railroad,  I  trust,  will  follow  shortly  after,  and  then  a  unity 
of  sentiment  will  be  secured  which  will  bring  about  the  right  feel- 
ing to  build  up  a  nation  of  our  own.  Heretofore  everybody 
here  has  been  too  busy  in  trying  to  accumulate  money — gold 
being  the  pivot  on  which  the  population  turned — but  now  a 
new  era  is  commencing.  The  panic,  the  reaction  in  financial 
matters,  the  terrible  depreciation  in  rents,  land  and  all  kinds  of 
property — the  lessening  cost  of  living,,  and  the  steady  and  in- 
creasing yield  of  gold,  has  given  people  a  fancy  for  contempla- 
tion and  reflection. 

One  hundred  tons  weight  per  annum  is  our  average  yield — 
40,000  to  50,000  ounces  of  gold  per  week  ;  and  what  is  there 
to  prevent  its  reaching  twice  this  amount,  for  the  country  far 
and  wide  is  filled  with  treasure  ?  Already  the  press  assumes  a 
more  national  tone.  Merchants  look  on  with  encouragement, 
and  the  diggers  are  ever  ready  to  give  their  vote  and  support 
to  a  change  of  administration.  We  must  think,  and  then  act, 
if  the  other  colonies  hesitate.  Victoria  must  take  the  lead,  and 


EXISTING    PARTIS.  21 


she  is  prepared  to  set  the  example.  More  than  two  thirds  of 
her  population  are  "new  chums,"  of  the  liberal  school,  and  ar- 
rived here  to  better  their  position  since  the  gold  fields  opened 
their  glittering  dust.  Few  of  them  have  any  particular  attach- 
ment for  Great  Britain,  and  are  fully  convinced  that  our  pros- 
perity will  consist  in  nationality.  Tasmania,  New  South  Wales 
and  South  Australia  are  more  loyal ;  but  even  they  are  rolling 
the  ball.  The  Sydney  Morning  Herald  has  had  some  splendid 
editorials  pointing  that  way,  and  the  Hobart  Town  journals  are 
full  of  Sir  Henry  Young's  coup  d'etat  in  so  unceremoniously 
using  his  prerogative — in  proroguing  the  Council,  because  they 
wished  to  examine  some  of  the  convict  papers,  over  which,  the 
Executive  say,  they  have  no  control. 

Dr.  Evans,  the  able  editor  of  the  Melbourne  Morning  Herald 
— who  was  for  many  years  connected  with  the  London  press — 
and  Drs.  Blair  and  Syme,  of  the  Age,  are  all  using  their  pen 
most  vigorously  in  shaping  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  their 
articles  have  been  copied  all  over  Australia.  I  want  to  see  the 
change  brought  about  by  purely  constitutional  means.  I  want 
no  more  bloodshed  ;  we  have  had  enough.  I  do  not  believe 
that  the  musket  and  the  sword  need  be  used  again,  for  I 
feel  confident  Great  Britain  will  grant  us  all  we  ask,  for  she 
must  plainly  see  that  a  dissolution  of  the  bond  that  unites  us 
would  materially  increase  the  commerce  of  both  nations.  Look 
at  the  United  States  and  her  increasing  traffic.  So  would  it  be 
with  us  the  moment  we  act  on  our  own  account.  No  longer  a 
penal  colony,  and  England  receiving  no  revenue,  while  she  her- 
self at  her  own  expense  provides  troops,  what  possible  benefit 
can  it  be  to  her  simply  to  bear  the  name  ?  By  and  by,  I  think, 
all  we  shall  have  to  do  is  to  ask  and  we  shall  receive.  The 
moment  our  flag  is  at  the  mast  head  we  shall  run  the  race  of 


22  AUSTRALIAN    NATIONALITY. 


nations.  Immigrants  will  flow  in  from  Europe,  from  Great 
Britain  and  from  the  United  States,  the  moment  our  lands  are 
advertised,  to  occupy  them  and  dig  our  mineral  treasure,  and 
our  prolific  soil  will  then  begin  to  show  its  producing  powers. 
Instead  of  sixty  thousand  per  year,  we  may  expect  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  people,  and  the  country  will  grow  in  magni- 
tude with  a  rapidity  that  will  astonish  even  an  old  Califoruian. 
We  have  all  the  elements  of  greatness.  Our  wool  interest,  al- 
ready an  export  of  ten  millions  of  dollars  a  year,  can  be  increas- 
ed ;  and  with  the  encouragement  that  I  trust  the  wool  growers 
will  receive  from  the  legislators,  and  a  buoyant  market,  I  hope 
to  see  it  doubled.  There  are  large  portions  of  the  country  out  of 
the  62,000,000  of  acres  in  Victoria  which  are  only  suitable  for 
grazing,  after  giving  the  tiller  of  the  land  all  the  soil  he  may 
require.  South  Australia  has  copper  in  abundance,  and  can 
grow  wheat  in  any  quantity. 

New  South  Wales  can  supply  any  amount  of  coal,  while  I'll 
back  Victoria  against  the  world  for  gold  ;  Tasmania  is  the 
granary  of  the  whole,  and  all  are  more  or  less  full  of  metals 
and  minerals  to  be  discovered.  Millions  of  acres  of  land  in  the 
interior  of  New  Holland  have  never  seen  the  foot-prints  of  the 
white  man,  and  discoveries  may  yet  be  made  which  will  throw 
all  others  into  the  shade.  Some  Australian  Fremont  may  soon 
astonish  the  world  by  his  explorations  in  the  interior  of  this  vast 
continent !  Commencing  in  our  infancy  as  shepherds  in  a  pas- 
toral country,  we  soon  branched  off  into  mining  ;  and  now  we 
must  try  our  hands  at  agriculture  and  manufacturing.  We 
must  grow  our  breadstuSs.  We  are  great  eaters,  but  lazy  pro- 
ducers. This  year  we  have  paid  Chili  alone  some  two  millions 
and  a  half  of  dollars  for  her  16,000  tons  of  flour.  The  fact  of 
our  having  no  great  inland  rivers  must  be  no  impediment  to  our 


INDEPENDENCE    LOOMING  23 


progress  ;  the  railway  whistle  will  prove  as  powerful  a  friend. 
With  such  wonderful  facilities  and  boundless  wealth,  what  may 
we  not  accomplish  ?  The  Old  World  is  bursting  with  wild  and 
fierce  revolution,  and  the  dismal  howl  of  war  is  ringing  through 
the  entire  range  of  the  Eastern  hemisphere.  Crazed  with  the 
continual  boom  of  cannon  and  flash  of  musketry,  and  sick  with 
hearing  the  dismal  shriek  of  the  dying,  thousands  will  look 
longingly  over  the  seas  towards  this  wonderful  island,  which  has 
been  washed  for  so  long  a  period  by  the  waters  of  the  Pacific 
and  Indian  oceans.  Australia  seems  to  have  been  created  as  a 
resting  place  for  persecnted  and  tax-ridden  man.  All  we  have 
to  do  is  to  throw  wide  open  the  door,  and  admit  the  poor  emi- 
grant who  flies  from  misery  and  want — from  his  unhappy  coun 
try  to  the  land  where  old  men  are  never  seen.  Ponce  de  Leon 
should  have  steered  his  bark  towards  this  point  of  the  compass 
to  find  that  fabled  Fountain  of  Youth,  for  which  he  so  long 
sought.  The  future  is  big  with  changes  ;  but  our  greatness 
will  be  retarded  if  the  mother  country  hesitates  to  give  us  a 
nationality  in  the  world.  Fifty  years  hence,  the  same  ratio  of 
increase  as  that  since  gold  was  found,  would  give  us  half  the 
present  population  of  the  United  States.  The  study  is  inter- 
esting to  the  lover  of  history.  -Our  proximity  to  the  Dutch 
Islands  of  the  Indian  seas,  to  Bengal,  China  and  Japan  will 
render  us  formidable  neighbors,  for  the  Anglo-Saxon  change  is 
on  the  world.  Look  at  Australia  now  and  when  Sydney  Smith 
used  his  satirical  pen  half  a  century  ago.  I  got  hold  of  an  old 
Edinburg  Review  of  1803  some  weeks  since,  where  the  witty 
clergyman  as  usual  gave  a  peep  at  the  future.  Says  he,  in  al- 
luding to  what  will  be  done  with  the  penal  colonies  when  they 
come  to  years  of  discretion  : — 

"  Are  we  to  spend  another  hundred  millions  in  discovering 
their  strength  and  to  humble  ourselves  again  before  a  fresh  set 


24  IN   THE   DISTANCE. 


of  Washingtons  and  Franklins  ?  The  moment  after  we  have 
suffered  such  serious  mischief  from  the  escape  of  the  old  tiger, 
we  are  breeding  up  a  young  cub  whom  we  cannot  render  less 
ferocious  or  more  secure  1" 

Again,  he  says,  while  speaking  of  the  5,000  colonists  then  at 
Sydney,  in  a  tone  of  levity  : — 

"  The  time  may  come  when  some  Botany  Bay  Tacitus  shall 
record  the  crimes  of  an  Emperor  lineally  descended  from  a  Lon- 
don pickpocket,  or  paint  the  valor  with  which  he  has  led  his 
New  Hollanders  into  the  heart  of  China — at  that  period  when 
the  Grand  Lama  is  sending  to  supplicate  alliance  ;  when  the 
Spice  Islands  are  purchasing  peace  with  nutmegs  ;  when  enor- 
mous tributes  of  green  tea  and  nankin  are  wafted  into  Port 
Jackson  and  landed  on  the  quays  of  Sidney." 

Already  a  portion  of  the  prophecy  is  fulfilled,  for  the  com- 
merce of  a  nation  has  long  been  with  us.  Victoria  represents 
all  nations,  and  her  resources  are  boundless  ;  and  if  Australia 
was  independent,  how  much  stronger  would  be  our  position  ? 
Now,  we  are  a  fair  mark  for  every  nation  at  war  with  England  ; 
for  in  case  of  invasion  months  would  pass  before  the  mother 
country  could  give  us  the  least  assistance,  for,  as  it  is,  we  have 
no  means  of  protecting  ourselves.  The  little  "  Electra"  and  the 
"  Phantome  "  mount  a  few  guns — about  enough  for  the  protec- 
tion of  a  place  like  Hull,  in  Massachusetts — and  as  for  fortifica- 
tions, we  have  done  nothing  but  talk.  Three  decent-sized  war 
steamships,  with  the  Lancaster  gun  and  shell,  could  burn  every 
seaport  on  the  island,  and  dictate  their  own  terms  ;  while,  if  we 
were  by  ourselves,  our  very  helplessness  would  be  sufficient  pro- 
tection. 

The  foregoing  will  give  you  an  insight  into  the  present  position 
of  the  country,  and  will  show  the  boundless  nature  of  our 
resources.  I  believe  there  are  some  10,000  Americans  in 


A    YANKEE   TOUK   OF    PLEASURE.  25 


Australia,  all  of  whom  are  becoming  more  or  less  identified  with 
the  colony.  Our  markets  are  capable  of  bearing  up  under  any 
reasonable  amount  of  merchandise,  and  most  recently  cargoes 
from  the  United  States  have  satisfied  the  shippers. 
.  We  want  a  steam  mail  once  in  two  weeks,  but  nothing  but 
peace  will  settle  the  matter.  Clipper  ships  do  very  well,  but 
eighty  or  ninety  days  is  long  to  wait  for  news  in  this  nine- 
teenth century.  The  Black  Ball  and  White  Star  lines  bring  and 
take  the  mail  to  England  semi-monthly,  but  the  time  is  too  long, 

I  am  now  bound  to  Batavia,  and  after  taking  a  look  at  the 
Island  of  Java,  shall  proceed  to  Singapore,  en  route  for  China 
and  Manilla;  and  I  shall  try  and  give  you  a  page  or  two  from 
Hong  Kong,  Canton,  Shanghai,  and,  if  possible,  from  Japan  ; 
after  which  I  shall  visit  Penang,  Madras,  Calcutta,  and,  if  tune 
permit,  pass  through  the  interior  of  Bengal  to  Bombay  ;  then 
down  to  Ceylon,  and  on  to  Aden,  up  the  Red  Sea  to  Suez,  over 
the  desert  to  Cairo  and  Alexandria — thence  to  Constantinople, 
Sebastopol,  and  the  Black  Sea  ports,  returning  by  the  way  of 
the  North  of  Europe,  France  and  England,  to  New  York, 
which,  with  the  ground  I  have  already  been  over,  ought  to 
make  me  something  of  a  traveler.  I  am  taking  the  tour  purely 
for  information,  and  to  get  a  little  practical  knowledge  of  my 
theoretical  reading. 

I  have  been  shut  up  a  long  while  in  an  Australian  counting 
house,  and  this  pleasure  tour  is  recreation  that  strengthens  the 
body  and  improves  the  mind  j  and  if,  in  going  from  place  to 
place,  over  ground  not  usually  trodden  by  the  American  tourist, 
I  can  gather  anything  which  will  prove  of  interest  to  your  val- 
uable journal,  and  my  many  friends  of  the  North,  I  will  so 
manage  my  time  as  to  suit  the  inclination,  and  jot  down  such 
thoughts  as  cross  my  experience  while  taking  a  flying  visit  over 
several  oceans  and  into  many  lands. 


CHAPTER    II. 

BATAVIA,  Dec.  8,  1855. 

Arrival  at  Batavia — The  American  Commercial  Marine — The  Java 
Boatman — Beauty  of  the  Coast  Scenery — The  Mangostine — Appear- 
ance of  the  Town — Novelty  of  the  Sights  that  meet  the  Traveler's 
Eye — Trade  of  Batavia — The  Climate,  <fec.,  &c. 

TWENTY-SIX  days  is  a  rapid  passage  for  a  sailing  ship,  and 
does  honor  to  the  Dashing  Wave  and  her  gallant  commander — 
who,  by  the  way  is  a  credit  to  his  profession.  Forty  years 
a  sailor,  he  knows  the  ropes,  and  long  experience  in  these  seas 
has  quickened  his  judgment,  and  his  hard  practical  common 
sense  and  keen  eye  for  observation,  show  the  signet  mark  of  the 
American  ship-master  ;  a  class  of  men  of  whom  our  country  may 
well  feel  proud  ;  self-educated,  the  builders  of  their  own  fortunes, 
they  walk  quickly  through  the  forecastle  to  the  command,  and 
become  at  once  the  responsible  pilots  of  that  wonderful  com- 
merce which  adds  so  much  lustre  to  our  flag,  and  penetrates 
into  every  port  that  boasts  an  anchorage,  or  where  a  commodity 
can  be  exchanged.  Captain  Fisk  has  chartered  his  ship,  to  load 
with  sugar,  rice,  and  spices,  for  Bremen,  at  <£4  10s.  He  was 
the  pioneer  of  the  Australian  trade,  taking  out  the  Nightingale 
from  Boston  to  Sydney,  in  1852.  This  was  the  ship  that  run 
against  the  English  clipper,  Challenge,  and  got  beat  by  taking 
the  wrong  passage  down  the  China  Sea.  As  we  made  Java 
Head,  ship  after  ship  hove  in  sight,  homeward  bound,  probably 


AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   MARINE.  27 


from  China.  The  high  land  can  be  seen  at  a  great  distance,  both 
on  the  point  at  Prince  Edward's  Island,  and  at  Crockatoa  ;  and 
the  foliage,  the  heat  of  the  "  sun's  perpendicular  rays,"  and  the 
very  air  breathe"  the  spicy  fragrance  of  the  tropics.  We  passed 
Anjer  early  in  the  morning,  and  here  the  light-house,  the  little 
township,  the  fort,  and  the  monster  banyan  tree,  could  be  plainly 
seen  with  the  glass,  and  the  wind  freshening  np,  we  sailed 
proudly  along  the  straits  of  Sunda  at  too  rapid  a  pace  for  the 
Javanese  boatmen,  who  shoot  out  from  the  land  all  along  the 
shore  to  supply  you  with  fruit  and  provisions.  It  was  a  novel 
sight  to  see  so  many  half  naked  objects  yelling  at  the  top  of 
their  lungs,  "  Stop-he-Cap,  stop-he-Cap,"  but  it  was  of  no  use  ; 
their  yelling  and  screeching,  tugging  and  working,  were  not 
equal  to  a  race  with  the  Dashing  Wave.  I  regretted  this,  for 
the  captain  had  said  so  much  about  the  sweet  potatoes,  the  Java 
chickens,  the  mangostine  and  other  tropical  luxuries,  that  my 
mouth  was  watering  for  a  change  of  diet.  Anjer  is  the  grand 
tollgate  of  the  Straits  of  Sunda,  and  the  tribute  from  the  im- 
mense fleet  of  ships  on  their  way  home  from  China  supports 
quite  a  population  of  native  boatmen.  There  are  but  a  dozen 
Dutchmen  at  the  place.  Almost  every  ship,  on  her  way  down, 
avails  herself  of  this  celebrated  resting  place  for  water  and  re- 
freshments ;  and  all  vessels  that  pass  in  the  day  time  are  report- 
ed at  Batavia  by  mail  twice  a  week.  The  boatman  always 
brings  the  captain  his  book  of  recommendations,  and  it  is  most 
amusing  to  look  over  the  different  marks  of  shipmasters.  On 
every  page  you  will  find  some  clipper  captain — 

"This  fellow,  Tom,  cheats,  don't  employ  him,"  and  on  another, 
"  This  boy  has  supplied  my  ship,  and  appears  a  decent  fellow, 
but  you  must  watch  him.  Pay  only  half  of  what  he  asks  ;  they 
are  all  damn  rascals.''  Another,  "  Kick  the  nigger  overboard 


•  -    *    : 

28  -THE   MANGOSTINE. 


when  he  boards  you  ;  his  eggs  were  all  rotten,"  and  so  on, 
through  the  list.  Poor  devils  !  They  get  sadly  sold  in  asking 
a  Yankee  tar  to  endorse  their  character.  lu  the  day  time 
there  is  no  difficulty  in  finding  your  way  to  the  roadstead  ;  but 
there  are  altogether  too  many  islands  and  shoals  to  attempt  it 
in  the  night  without  a  pilot,  and  that  is  a  useful  member  of 
society  you  seldom  find  in  the  Indian  settlements  of  the  Dutch. 
There  are  none  at  Batavia  ;  but  Sourabaya,  I  believe,  is  obliged 
to  have  them.  We  dropped  our  anchor  about  eight  P.  M., 
having  worked  our  way  along  from  Anjer  during  the  day.  The 
coast  scenery  makes  a  beautiful  picture — the  towering  foliage 
and  patches  of  cultivation,  clear  to  the  mountain  top,  and  the 
half  thousand  prahus  or  fishing  smacks,  with  their  bamboo 
masts  and  latteen  sails,  dotting  the  water  in  the  distance,  as  we 
passed  island  after  island,  and,  buoy  after  buoy,  keep  the  fancy 
constantly  awake.  In  the  morning  the  guard  boat  got  the  par- 
ticulars of  the  ship,  and  the  Malays  came  flocking  off  to  sell  us 
their  fruit  and  poultry  ;  and  here,  for  the  first  time,  I  got  a 
taste  of  the  celebrated  fruit  so  bepraised  by  travelers — the 
mangostine — and  must  candidly  acknowledge  that,  although  the 
juicy  pulp  was  a  luxury,  after  eating  ship  grub  all  the  way  from 
Australia,  I  was  disappointed,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  world-wide  reputation  of  the  fruit  has  been  obtained  from 
those  who,  after  being  a  long  time  at  sea,  got  a  taste  of  it  at 
Anjer.  A  Bartlett  pear  or  rare  ripe  peach,  to  my  taste,  is  far 
superior.  We  have  nothing  in  the  States  to  liken  it  to.  You 
shell  it  as  you  would  a  walnut,  but  must  be  careful  and  not  get 
the  red  bark  cover  in  your  mouth.  This  the  natives  use  for 
dyeing  purposes. 

There  were  about  thirty  sail  of  freighting  ships  at  anchor, 
(mostly  flying  the  flag  of  the  Dutch,)  and  three  or  four  men-of- 


NOVELTY   OF   THE    SIGHTS  29 


war.  The  sun's  heat  was  perfectly  dissolving  as  we  laid  off  in 
the  "  dingy,"  under  our  cotton  cloth  covering,  while  the  native 
boatmen  gave  the  Javanese  stroke  to  their  puny  looking  oars, 
as  they  rowed  me  up  the  dirty  looking  canal,  (to  a  tune  more 
like  filing  a  saw  than  a  human  voice,)  which  seemed  about  as 
wide  as  the  Bowery,  and  is  two  miles  long  to  the  Boom,  which, 
I  suppose,  in  a  civilized  country  they  would  call  a  Custom 
House.  My  baggage  (only  one  trunk  when  you  take  the  over- 
land route)  the  official  passed,  without  overhauling  everything, 
as  they  do  in  Europe  ;  and  now  commenced  a  succession  of 
sight  seeing  novelties.  Everything  one  meets,  or  feels,  or  hears, 
or  sees,  is  so  entirely  different  from  other  latitudes,  my  senses 
have  been  kept  on  the  qui  vive  ;  and  with  my  eyes  wide  open, 
my  ears  akimbo,  my  taste  in  good  working  order,  I  jumped  into 
a  Javanese  buggy — a  four  wheel  concern  with  a  hood  like  an 
English  phaeton — and  started  off  with  the  little  wretched  horses, 
only  thirteen  hands  high,  and  all  entire  horses,  (for  no  mares 
are  allowed  in  the  mercantile  part  of  the  town,)  and  found  on 
both  sides  of  the  canal  a  long  row  of  two-storied  warehouses,  all 
white,  and  covered  with  tiles,  on  account  of  being  so  much  cooler 
than  slate,  and  beautifully  shaded,  like  the  Boulevards,  witli 
trees. 

I  was  glad  enough  to  find  a  seat  in  the  large  and  comfortable 
looking  counting  house  of  my  fellow  countryman,  Mr.  Bead, 
who  represents  the  States  as  Consular  Agent,  and  will  treat 
you  with  every  possible  courtesy  and  attention.  Eighteen  years 
of  Java  climate  do  not  seem  to  have  taken  away  his  youth  or 
good  looks.  The  offices  are  as  large  as  the  reception  rooms  of 
a  hotel,  and  the  warehouses  are  so  connected  that  the  merchants 
can  walk  from  one  to  the  other  along  the  verandah,  on  the  sec- 
ond story,  without  the  trouble  of  going  below  ;  this  passage  is 


30  THAT   MEET   THE    TRAVELER'S    EYE. 


only  a  private  one,  a  sort  of  mutual  convenience  for  the  several 
merchants.  The  floors  are  covered  with  matting,  and  the 
windows  and  doors  are  thrown  wide  open  for  the  current  of  air 
to  circulate  on  all  sides,  and  at  mid-day  the  desks  of  the  princi- 
pals are  fanned  with  a  machine,  the  motive  power  of  which  is  a 
little  Malay  urchin  behind  the  door — the  same  style  of  arrange- 
ment as  we  use  in  the  South,  which  I  saw  for  the  first  time  at 
the  hotel  in  Frankfort  Kentucky.  At  the  several  desks  you 
see  few  Europeans  ;  but  all  the  natives  of  the  East  are  repre- 
sented. A  long  tailed  Chinaman,  with  a  very  white  moustache, 
officiates  as  cashier  ;  a  Malay  book-keeper,  an  Arab  salesman, 
a  half-cast  writer,  and  a  dozen  and  a  half  subs,  of  all  nations, 
cooped  about  in  every  direction,  with  as  little  clothing  as  possi- 
ble about  their  bronze  looking  limbs.  The  warehouses  run 
from  street  to  street,  the  floors  of  which  are  brick,  and,  for 
such  a  climate,  the  building  is  quite  cool.  Tobacco,  in  huge 
casks  :  arrack,  in  pipes  ;  sugar,  in  bags  and  matted  casks  ;  coffee 
and  rice,  spices,  indigo,  rattan  and  dyewoods,  and  imports  con- 
sisting of  every  article  that  can  be  sold  or  bartered.  The  ar- 
rack is  a  much  better  article  than  the  poisoned  liquor  of  British 
India.  Shipmasters  should  be  very  careful  in  making  their 
charters  to  stipulate  for  a  fair  proportion  of  weight,  and  provide 
against  being  "  blown  up "  with  such  articles  as  tobacco,  cask 
sugar,  sapan  wood  and  rattan.  I  speak  of  this,  as  some  ships 
have  recently  arrived  from  Australia,  where  they  were  taken  up 
at  £5  10,  but  there  was  no  stipulation,  after  mentioning  a  small 
amount  of  dead  weight  guaranteed,  about  the  balance  of  the 
cargo.  Hence,  the  captain  is  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  char- 
terer, and,  should  freights  fall,  he  has  the  privilege  of  filling  up 
with  such  articles  as  I  have  named,  as  was  the  case  with  the 
"Ocean  Steed"  taking  tobacco,  while  the  "Leodes"  preferred  to 

'S 


CLIMATE,    THE    MERCHANTS,    &C.  31 


recharter  at  a  lesser  rate  for  a  fair  freight.  Most  business  is 
done  through  agents  or  brokers,  many  of  them  natives,  and  the 
stranger  would  think  the  merchant  led  a  most  indolent  life,  sur- 
rounded as  he  is  with  such  a  troupe  of  retainers  to  bring  him 
his  hat,  brush  off  a  fly,  fan  him  in  mid-day,  and  in  short,  do 
almost  everything  but  talk  and  write.  Every  transaction  is  done 
by  sending  from  one  office  to  the  other  notes,  and  as  you  notice 
what  is  going  on,  you  cannot  but  be  amused  to  see  "  chit "  after 
"chit"  brought  in  and  sent  off,  touching  charters,  sales,  purcha- 
ses, &c.  Every  merchant  must  learn  the  Malay  language,  for 
it  is  the  lingua  Franca  of  the  Indian  seas  ;  and  he  must  also  be 
well  up  in  the  English,  French  and  Dutch.  Every  Dutchman 
you  meet  speaks  all  these  languages  ;  but  the  English  are  not 
so  well  posted.  I  believe  that  no  Dutchman  can  command  a 
ship  unless  he  can  speak  English  and  French.  These  continent- 
al merchants  are  far  ahead  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  in  this  respect. 
In  fact,  we  have  no  occasion  to  follow  Elihu  Burritt's  example, 
although  his  wonderful  knowledge  of  ancient  and  modern  lan- 
guages would  be  very  useful  in  the  countries  of  the  East.  You 
go  through  one  warehouse — you  see  the  whole — and  so  it  is 
with  the  private  residences.  The  merchants  all  dress  in  white, 
and  sometimes  change  two  or  three  times  a  day.  You  seldom 
see  one  that  does  not  look  as  though  he  had  just  come  out  of  a 
bandbox  or  an  upper  drawer  of  a  wardrobe.  Two  and  a  half 
per  cent,  for  purchasing,  and  one  for  endorsing,  and  fire  per 
cent,  for  selling,  give  them  a  very  handsome  fortune  in  a  few 
years  ;  but  they  certainly  deserve  all  they  can  get ;  for  positive- 
ly, I  would  not  live  in  such  an  atmosphere  and  such  a  climate 
for  all  the  revenue  of  the  island.  The  canal  opposite  the  busi- 
ness part  of  the  place  is  lined  with  sheds,  like  the  Liverpool 
docks,  and  natives  are  busily  engaged  in  packing  up  sugar  and 


32  TRADE    OF    BATAVIA. 


other  staples  for  export ;  women  and  men,  some  opening  the 
mat-made  casks,  two  or  three  of  them  standing  with  their  dirty 
looking  feet  in  the  sngar,  while  others  are  filling,  weighing,  sew- 
ing, and  piling  up  the  bags — all  sizes.  Those  that  I  noticed 
were  for  the  California  market,  which  has  been  quite  an  outlet 
for  Java  produce,  while  little  has  gone  to  Australia.  The 
Mauritius  are  nearer,  and  can  supply  us  with  sugar  at  a  less 
rate  ;  but  rice  occasionally  is  sent  down,  although  the  Chinamen 
in  the  gold  fields  won't  buy  Java  when  Patna  can  be  had  from 
Bengal.  This  sugar  for  San  Francisco  is  being  packed  in  25 
Ibs.  mats.  It  takes  some  time  to  get  hold  of  the  weight  ;  the 
Dutch  pickul  of  125  Ibs.  is  136  Ibs.  English  ;  and  in  buying  and 
selling,  all  is  done  in  rupees.  The  Dutch  guilder  or  florin  is  the 
Malay  rupee — twelve  to  the  pound  sterling.  There  are  several 
divisions  of  the  silver  coin,  such  as  £,  £,  and  2|  guilder 
pieces;  and  the  copper  coin  consists  of  doits  and  half  doits,  100 
to  a  rupee.  The  paper  money  of  government  as  well  as  that  of 
the  private  bank  here — where  they  charge  you  for  depositing — 
is  miserable  trashy  stuff,  and  resembles  in  size  our  continental 
currency.  I  am  told  that  coin  is  entirely  to  supersede  paper 
shortly.  As  a  general  thing,  few  bad  debts  are  made  in  selling 
to  the  Europeans,  but  those  who  trust  the  Arabs  and  Chinamen 
have  been  heavy  losers — the  miserable  wretches  will  fail  when- 
ever anything  can  be  made  by  it  ;  and  when  one  suspends  they 
all  go.  A  little  while  since  there  was  a  perfect  panic  among 
the  Arabs  ;  and  not  long  ago  the  Chinese  followed  their  exam- 
ple ;  now,  no  European  will  give  them  credit.  The  merchants 
contract  with  the  planter  or  government  in  advance  for  their 
crop,  at  a  fixed  price,  and  then  they  supply  their  foreign  orders 
at  the  current  rates  ;  and  it  would  seem  to  us  that  more  money 
is  made  in  this  by  speculation  than  by  their  commissions. 


CHAPTER   III. 

JAVA  HOTEL,  BATAVIA,  Dec.  9,  1855. 

Life  of  Mercantile  Classes — Animated  Scene  on  the  Road  to  the  Mer- 
chants' Country  Residences — Description  of  their  Villas — The  Native 
Population — A  Dutch  Reformer — A  Java  Hotel — Batavia  Cookery— 
The  Race  Course — Contre  Temps  of  a  Stranger — Curious  Habits  of 
the  Javanese,  <fec.,  <fec. 

SINCE  yesterday,  I  have  been  continually  on  the  wing — my 
senses  all  alive  with  continual  change.  Our  ride  to  our  hotel 
in  the  country — where  all  the  Europeans  live — about  four  or 
five  miles  out  of  town  was  most  delightful,  because  most  novel. 
Passing  the  low,  dirty  residences  of  the  multitude  of  Chinese, 
we  followed,  along  a  level,  macademised  red  colored  road,  the 
course  of  the  canal,  and  must  have  passed  a  hundred  carriages — 
in  one  continuous  line — some  with  the  little  Timor  ponies,  some 
with  the  gray  Java  horses,  and  some  with  an  imported  animal 
from  Sydney — all  driven  by  a  swarthy,  naked  looking  native, 
with  only  a  handkerchief  round  his  loins,  with  a  boy  behind  the 
carriage.  The  vehicles  are  of  every  Eastern  description,  but  few 
European  carriages.  These  were  the  merchants  coming  in  to 
business,  about  9  o'clock.  Every  European  rides — the  merchant, 
the  tradesman,  the  salaried  clerk,  the  ship  captain  and  the  sailor, 
are  all  provided  with  a  phaeton  and  a  pair  of  runty  looking 
ponies,  a  driver  and  a  footman,  for  two  dollars  per  day  ;  but  I 
pity  the  stranger  who  rides  without  some  friend  who  understands 


34  SCENES    ON   THE    ROAD. 


the  infernal  jargon  of  the  country.  For  instance,  my  first  ex- 
perience in  telling  them  where  to  drive  me,  was  in  being  left  at 
Boom  instead  of  the  Exchange.  They  usually  rise  early,  take 
a  bath  before  breakfast,  go  into  town  and  leave  for  home  at 
four  o'clock  and  dine  at  six — six  or  seven  hours  at  the  counting 
house,  and  the  rest  in  eating,  drinking,  smoking,  riding  and 
sleeping  ;  but  little  intellectual  culture,  for  the  climate  only 
caters  to  the  passions  of  the  body,  while  it  prostrates  the  healthy 
action  of  the  brain  ;  and  although  physically  the  climate  under- 
mines the  constitution,  the  heat,  the  air  and  the  habits  of  the 
place  must  eventually  pluck  many  of  the  choicest  flowers  from 
out  the  garden  of  the  mind. 

On  the  road  hundreds  of  natives  occupied  the  place  of  beasts 
of  burden  in  European  countries,  carrying  immense  loads  with 
their  bamboo  pole  across  their  shoulders,  and  the  weight 
equally  balanced.  Should  it  not,  they  sometimes  get  a  stone  for 
the  other  end,  thus  taking  twice  the  weight.  You  see  them 
with  all  the  productions  of  the  Island.  One  man  with  buckets 
of  coal  ;  another  with  fruits  of  different  kinds  ;  now  coming 
with  a  load  of  grass,  and  then  again  with  marketing,  which 
some  gentleman  has  ordered  for  his  dinner.  Some  are  trotting 
away  with  a  lot  of  goods  for  sale,  yelling  to  an  accompaniment 
on  a  wooden  rattle  ;  while  others  have  a  half  dozen  live  turkies 
on  one  end  of  the  pole  and  as  many  geese  on  the  other,  tied  up 
most  carefully  with  cocoa  nut  or  some  other  kind  of  leaves,  the 
body  being  entirely  enclosed  in  a  regular  network,  while  they 
have  the  privilege  of  observing  what  is  going  on  about  them. 
These  birds  seem  to  enjoy  their  exercise,  as  you  never  hear  them 
make  the  least  complaint.  I  can  imagine  nothing  more  ludi- 
crous ;  perhaps  because  it  is  a  sight  so  unexpected. 

Beautiful  trees  line  the  roadside,  and  all  about  you  may  be 


THE  MERCHANTS'  COUNTRY  RESIDENCES. 


seen  the  classic  foliage  of  the  tropical  climate.  The  residences 
of  the  merchants  are  most  tastefully  built — space  everywhere 
the  great  feature,  and  situated  about  100  feet  from  the  road — 
the  garden  completely  filled  with  the  richest  garb  of  nature. 
The  houses  are  all  white,  of  two  stories,  and  cover,  with  the 
outbuildings,  from  one-eighth  to  an  acre  of  ground.  Land  in 
plenty,  and  the  residents  have  made  the  most  of  it.  The  canals, 
as  in  the  old  town  branch  off  from  the  little  river  in  all  direc- 
tions, and  are  the  receptacle  of  all  the  filth  and  sewerage  of  the 
town.  The  natives  can  be  seen  at  all  times  boating  up  and 
down  ;  the  washerwomen  and  men  dashing  the  clothes  down  on 
a  wooden  form  as  if  made  of  sheepskin  ;  your  wardrobe  soon 
requires  replenishing,  for  few  articles  of  wearing  apparel  are 
equal  to  such  hard  usage.  The  native  girls  were  plunging  in 
and  out  of  the  water  in  a  costume  remarkable  for  its  simplicity 
— perfectly  innocent  of  the  presence  of  the  European  stranger, 
who  gazes  with  such  familiarity  and  curious  interest  upon  the 
peculiar  habits  of  the  people,  whose  simple  customs  he  notices 
for  the  first  time. 

The  new  town  is  situated  on  the  heights  of  Weltevreden,  the 
site  selected  by  Governor  Daendels  when  he  was  prevented  from 
removing  the  seat  of  government  to  Sourabaya,  on  account  of 
the  fatal  miasmas  of  the  place.  So  generally  was  the  rush  to 
get  out  of  the  old  port  by  everybody  but  the  Celestials,  the 
place  would  have  been  a  ruin,  had  not  a  new  administration 
come  into  power,  with  Baron  Capellen  at  its  head,  who,  with  a 
sprinkling  of  Yankee  enterprise  metamorphosed  the  entire  city ; 
and  the  filling  up  and  repairing  of  the  canals — the  widening  of 
the  streets — the  tearing  down  of  old  buildings  to  make  room 
for  new,  and  removal  of  accumulated  filth,  will  be  the  means  of 
keeping  his  name  gratefully  alive  in  the  memory  of  those  who 


36  JAVA    HOTELS. 


saw  how  .great  a  change  a  little  management  could  accomplish 
even  in  the  climate  of  a  city. 

Here  we  are  at  the  Java  Hotel  again,  a  perfect  palace  in 
size.  Some  of  the  rooms  are  as  long  as  the  dining  saloon  of 
the  Astor  House.  There  are  four  first  class  hotels  in  Batavia, 
all  of  which  are  kept  in  capital  order,  set  a  good  table,  and  do 
credit  to  the  island.  There  is  the  one  in  which  I  am  writing, 
the  Java,  the  Rotterdam,  the  Marine,  and  the  Netherlands,  built 
pretty  much  alike,  and  conducted  in  the  same  way.  Like  the 
warehouses  and  private  residences,  two  stories  in  front,  with 
wings  one  story  high  extending  a  long  ways  back,  in  the  rear 
of  which  are  the  stables  for  about  one  hundred  horses,  and  out 
buildings  for  the  servants — about  seventy  to  one  hundred  to 
each  hotel  ;  large  shade  trees,  a  species  of  banyan  and  cocoa 
nut,  under  which  are  wooden  seats,  spread  their  shadow  over 
the  grounds  in  front,  while  the  rear  enclosure  is  filled  with  flow- 
ers and  different  kinds  of  fruit.  The  grounds  extend  from  one 
street  to  another,  and  form  squares  of  some  acres.  The  horses 
owned  at  the  hotel  are  inferior  animals — costing  about  $15  to 
$20  each,  and  the  carriage  made  here,  about  $150.  The  stable 
boys  gets  $4  per  month,  and  the  house  boys  $5.  The  head  man, 
or  manager,  receives  $12  ;  girls  get  $3.  The  race  course  is 
just  in  the  rear  of  our  hotel,  and  is  a  large,  level  grass  plot. 
A  grand  stand  has  been  erected,  and  every  six  months  the  lovers 
of  the  sport  try  the  metal  of  their  imported  Arab  and  Sydney 
horses,  but  the  greatest  amusements  is  derived  from  the  scrub 
race  with  ponies,  among  the  natives. 

Our  table  is  excellent,  and  everything  well  cooked — but  it  is 
impossible  to  give  you  any  idea  of  the  number  of  courses  or  the 
names  of  the  dishes — everything  is  peculiarly  Dutch  or  Malay. 
We  seem  to  do  nothing  but  eat  and  drink  the  live-long  day  ; 


CURIOUS    HABITS    OF   THE    JAVANESE.  37 

somehow  or  other  a  cup  of  tea,  a  piece  of  toast,  or  coffee  and 
tiffin,  are  always  brought  to  you,  at  the  very  time  your  appetite 
is  ready  to  welcome  it.  Your  coffee  is  brought  you  in  bed,  and 
tiffin  or  tea  will  be  sent  to  your  room — to  the  verandah— the 
billiard  room,  or  wherever  you  may  desire  it.  Fruits  load  the 
tables,  and  a  servant  is  always  near  to  help  you.  The  mangos- 
tine,  the  mango — about  the  size  and  shape  of  a  goose  egg,  and 
tasting  like  our  cantelope  melon — the  banana,  the  pineapple, 
the  shaddock,  and  several  other  kinds,  the  names  of  which,  when 
learned,  I  could  not  remember — but  each  was  different  from 
what  I  had  ever  seen  or  tasted  before.  As  the  Europeans  all 
speak  Malay,  few  natives  talk  Dutch  or  English,  and  hence  I 
found  it  most  difficult  to  make  myself  understood.  When  ask- 
ing for  an  egg  my  boy's  countenance  would  lighten  up  as  much 
as  to  say,  all  right — I  understand — and  off  he  would  go  and 
bring  a  sweet  potato  !  For  a  cup  of  coffee,  I  got  a  plate  of 
pickles  !  and  for  a  glass  of  water,  a  slice  of  ham  !  'Tis  most 
annoying — but  what  can  you  do,  but  grin  and  bear  it  ?  But 
the  worst  of  it  is,  every  one  else  is  grinning  too.  At  night  and 
morning  the  Europeans  dress  with  the  most  perfect  .abandon — 
a  loose  gown  like  a  pair  of  trousers,  and  a  robe  that  looks  some- 
thing like  a  lady's  night  dress,  (as  I  have  seen  them  hanging  on 
the  clothes  line).  The  women  also  at  these  hours  dress  in  the 
same  careless  manner.  It  looks  very  odd  to  me  ;  and  this,  to- 
gether with  the  bathing  dress  of  the  Malay  girl,  would  shock  some 
of  my  fastidious  countrywomen,  who  cannot  bear  even  to  look 
at  the  bare  legs  of  their  piano  or  to  have  the  naked  truth  told 
them.  Custom,  however,  will  soon  bring  over  the  new  comer, 
and  the  third  day  I  was  able  to  sit  at  my  door  on  the  verandah 
with  nothing  on  but  pants  and  slippers.  The  bathing  room  is 
made  of  marble,  and  you  turn  a  faucet,  which  pours  a  stream 


<*** 

BILL    OF    FARE    AT   THE    HOTEL. 


over  you  as  big  as  your  leg.  But  the  funniest  thing  I  have  yet 
seen  is  that  confounded  bottle.  What  a  custom  !  G  ood  gra- 
cious !  is  it  possible  that — but  never  mind — I  will  explain  some 
other  time.  Ha  !  ha  !  ha  !  I  don't  wonder  that  poor  Jack 
thought  it  was  Seltzer  water.  How  could  he  have  thought  it 
anything  else  ? 

The  theatre  was  not  open,  and  I  did  not  go  to  the  Harmonic, 
but  amused  myself  by  asking  questions  during  the  evening  of 
all  that  passed  near  my  door.  I  cannot  better  give  you  an  idea 
of  eating  houses  or  prices  than  by  getting  down  a  copy  of  the 
tariff  that  hangs  in  my  room  : — 

THE  JA  VA    HOTEL. 

Regulations. 

From  4|  till  8  o'clock  in  the  morning,  tea  and  coffee. 
At  8  o'clock  in  the  morning,  breakfast. 
At  12  M.,  rice,  kerry,  &c. 
At  3  P.  M.,  tea. 
At  6£  P.  M.,  dinner. 
At  8  P.  M.,  tea. 
At  9  P.  M.,  grog., 

On  Sundays  and  holidays,  at  11  o'clock,  breakfast. 
On  theatre  days,  at  6  o'clock  P.  M.,  dinner. 
Only  in  cases  of  illness,  may  dinner  be  afforded  in  the  apart- 
ments. 

The  hotel  is  closed  for  the  night  at  11£  o'clock. 

List  of  Prices. 

One  day's  lodging  for  one  person,       ..•*-.}  /5.00 — $1  25 

One  boy,  under  5  years  old,  with  his  parents,  1.00 —  40 

.-*%  **  One   do.  from  5  to  12  years  old,  per  day,  2.00 —  80 

One  day's  lodging,  with  meals  in  room,  6.00 —  2  40 

One  bottle  Champagne,  5.00 —  2  00 

"           Burgundy,      -            -            -  5.00—  2  00 

"           Port  wine,                            -  5.00 —  2  00 

.       ' 

*•   ' 


-** 

BILL   OF    FARE.  39 


One  bottle  Sauterne,  -  /4.00—  1  60 

Hock,  "*t  4.00—  1  60 

Maderia,         -  -  -     4.00—  1  60 

"  Sherry,       -  -  4.00—  1  60 

"          Claret,  -  -  -     2.00—  80 

"          Dutch  beer,  -  -  1.00—  40 

"          English  beer,  -  "         -  >.     1.50—  60 

Cognac,      -  -  -  4.00—  1  60 

"          Seltzer  water,  -  -     1.00—  40 

One  half  do.  do.       do.  -  -  50—  20 

One  glass  Absinthe,       -  -        -,  f*v      50 —  20 

Madeira,    -  50—  20 

Siroop,        •"•-  !"-<.     25—  10 

Cognac,      -  «•**          50—  20 

Geneva,  with  bitters,  - 

One  great  lamp  in  room  for  stranger  per 

month.          :    ..„.,  -     12.00 —  4  80 

YOU  will  now  understand  how  often  our  appetite  is  waited 
upon,  and  how  cheap  you  can  live  in  a  crack  hotel  in  Batavia. 
When  traveling  this  way  the  Java  is  your  place. 


CHAPTER   IT. 

r         BELLEVUE  HOTEL,  BUITENZORG,  JAVA,        ) 
THIRTY  MILES  INLAND  FBOM  BATAVIA,  Dec.  10,  1855.  ) 

Interior  of  the  Island — Javanese  Conveyances — Malay  Post  Boys — The 
Plantations-'-A  Javanese  Marriage — Wonderful  Sights — The  "Whole 
Book  of  Nature  Opened  in  a  Three  Hours'  Ride — The  Government 
House — Official  Receptions — Population  and  Administration  of  the 
Dutch  Colonies — Their  Revenues,  Expenditures,  <fec. — The  Europeans 
on  the  Islands — Effects  of  the  Climate  on  their  Constitutions — Politi- 
cal History  of  Java — The  Native  Population — Departure,  <fcc.,  <fcc. 

I  HAVE  already  thrown  you  off  two  letters  on  impressions  of 
Batavia  for  this  mail,  and  now  I  propose  to  give  you  my  ex- 
perience in  posting  a  short  way  into  the  interior  of  this  remark- 
able island.  At  one  o'clock  P.  M.,  yesterday,  I  left  the  Java 
Hotel  to  visit  his  Excellency  at  his  palace  and  grounds  at  Buit- 
enzorg,  and  for  the  purpose  of  inspecting  the  culture  of  some 
of  the  products  of  the  island.  Here  again  the  whole  distance 
I  was  entranced  with  the  wonderful  look  of  cultivated  nature. 
But  to  .commence.  I  paid  eighty  rupees  (thirty-two  dollars) 
for  a  post  carriage  up  and  back — a  distance  of  thirty-eight  miles 
each  way.  Our  carriage  was  a  square,  hearse-looking  box  on 
little  wheels,  drawn  by  four  Javanese  ponies,  and  driven  by  a 
Malay  coachman  with  an  immense  hat,  resembling  a  gigantic 
inverted  punchbowl ;  the  reins  and  traces  made  of  jope,  and 
the  harness  very  primitive  looking  ;  and  two  post  boys,  with 


MALAY    POST    BOYS.  41 


similar  sombreros,  perched  up  on  the  back  of  the  carriage. 
This  composed  the  establishment,  and  a  more  extraordinary 
turnout  this  deponent  never  witnessed.  We  started,  and  such 
an  excitement  as  we  made  and  noise  as  we  created  is  beyond 
my  power  of  description.  The  driver  cracked  his  long  whip, 
the  horses  sprung  away  at  a  wild  gallop,  the  post  boys  jumped 
off  their  perch  and  took  the  leaders  by  the  head  as  they  passed 
the  bridges,  and  yelled  with  fiend-like  fury  to  make  them  in- 
crease their  speed  ;  while  both  sides  of  the  streets  were  lined 
with  Malays,  Arabs  and  Chinese,  seemingly  interested  in  our 
wild  career.  "  Hi,  hi !  he-eh  ! "  say  the  post  boys  ;  crack  goes 
the  driver's  whip,  round  fly  the  wheels,  and  up  again  the  boys 
mount  their  perch.  In  a  few  minutes  you  see  them  off  running 
alongside  the  horses,  with  only  a  handkerchief  tied  round  their 
midships,  cracking  their  whips  louder  than  ever,  and  screeching 
like  Pawnee  Indians.  "  Har  I  har  1 — (crack) — Hi ! — (crack) 
He  eh  !  he  eh  I  (Crack — crack  !)  on  both  sides,  and  crack 
from  the  driver  ;  Hi  1  hi  1  from  the  boys ;  Hoy-rem  1  ho  1  from 
the  driver  ;  Har  !  har  !— (Crack  !  crack  !)— Hi !"— ( Crack  !) 
This  novel  posting  was  continued  all  the  wa7,  and  six  changes 
of  horses  and  of  post  boys — but  kept  the  same  coachman — 
placed  us  at 'the  Bellevue  House  at  five  o'clock,  having  been 
four  hours  on  the  way.  No  time  was  lost  at  the  stopping  places 
— the  change  of  horses  were  all  prepared  by  the  new  post  boys, 
each  boy  getting  ten  doits  (four  cents)  each.  We  passed  through 
a  very  level  country,  over  one  of  the  best  roads  that  can  be 
made,  and  which  extends  directly  through  Java,  due  east  to 
Sourabaya — the  work  of  government.  All  about  us  we  recog- 
nized many  of  the  shade  trees  and  all  the  fruits  we  saw  at  Bata- 
via — and  the  rice  plantations  in  their  several  stages  from  the 
ploughing  of  the  land  to  the  sowing  of  the  rice  in  the  little 


42  A    JAVANESE    MARRIAGE. 


space  allotted,  from  which  it  is  transplanted  to  the  irrigated 
patches,  of  about  an  acre  each,  prepared  to  receive  it.     Many 
of  the  plantations  were  of  immense  size,  and  further  along  inland 
cover  square  miles  in  space.     Vast  numbers  of  natives  were 
traveling  on  the  road,  staggering  under  their  heavy  loads  ;  and 
carts  drawn  by  ponies  without  a  bridle,  and  buffaloes  with  a 
bamboo  yoke,  were  bringing  in  the  produce — while  the  distance 
was  ornamented  by  native  villages — towering  mountains  seen  at 
.a  distance  of  a  hundred  miles,  covered  with  the  teak  wood  forest 
— long  plains,  the  water  passing  from  field  to  field  with  the  ut- 
most regularity — and  rivers  and  cocoa  nut  groves,  deep  ravines 
and  irregular  fields.     At  the  several  stoppages  I  amused  myself 
by  throwing  a  little  copper  coin  out  of  the  carriage  to  see  the 
children  scramble  for  it.     At  one  place  there  were  about  thirty, 
between  the  ages  of  two  and  ten  years,  of  both  sexes,  most  of 
whom  were  entirely  naked.     These  natives  marry  at  twelve. 
At  Buitenzorg,  I  was  so  fortunate  as  to  have  the  opportunity 
of  witnessing  the  ceremony  of  a  Javanese  marriage.     Attracted 
by  a  most  singular  concord  of  sounds,  I  pushed  my  way  through 
the  groves  of  trees  to  the  house  or  shed,  where  were  collected 
a  large  number  of  natives — the  grown  people  on  one  side,  and 
about  one  hundred  children,  in  a  state  of  nature,  on  the  other. 
The  musicians  were  seated  round  an  old  box,  and  kept  time  by 
striking  different  metals  and  skins — while  a  child  of  six  years, 
dressed  as  an  old  woman,  with  long  hair  and  a  horrid  mask,  was 
walking  with  a  tragical  air,  and  gesticulating  in  a  most  grave 
manner,  up  and  down  the  platform,  to  the  great  delight  of  the 
children,  whose  black  eyes  and  bronze  figures,  as  they  lay  group- 
ed along  the  shed,  was  a  picture  for  an  artist. 

At  six  o'clock  this  morning,  the  Aid-de-camp,  F.  Bering 
Leisberg,  Esq.,  attendant  on  the  Governor-General,  was  at  the 


WONDERFUL   SIGHTS.  43 


Hotel  by  appointment,  with  a  beautiful  pony,  and  accompanied 
me  about  twenty  miles  over  groves  and  through  rice  plantations 
— all  of  which  were  divided  by  a  green  horse  path,  into  native 
villages,  and  by  rivulets  which  feed  the  rice  canals.  No  pen 
can  express,  no  tongue  can  utter,  no  pencil  can  paint  the  sub- 
limity of  nature  in  the  interior  of  Java.  All  I  see  or  hear, 
about  and  around  me,  enchants  my  senses.  It  is  the  land  of 
poetry  and  of  song  ;  and  when  you  gaze  upon  the  burial  place 
of  a  native  prince,  or  a  Hindoo  Chief ;  when  you  contemplate 
the  massive  ruins  of  past  ages  ;  when  you  walk  over  and  around 
the  immense  native  temples — built  God  knows  when — admiring 
their  architecture  and  revering  their  venerable  age  ;  when  you 
pass  through  monster  estates  of  rice,  of  sugar  and  of  coffee — all 
cultivated  with  the  simple  implements  of  the  natives — and  see 
no  modern  tools  of  culture  ;  when  you  smell  the  odour  of  the 
spices,  and  admire  the  beauty  of  the  nutmeg  and  the  pepper  ; 
the  singing  of  Java  birds,  and  chirping  of  insects  and  lizards, 
as  you  ride  through  forests,  curiously  absorbed  in  the  wonder- 
ful beauties  of  the  earth  ;  the  cocoa  groves,  the  cotton  and  the 
bread  fruit  tree  ;  the  banyan,  with  its  numberless  branches,  all 
taking  root  again  to  strengthen  the  old  trunk — an  affectionate 
emblem  of  parent  and  child  supporting  each  other  through 
earthquakes,  storms  and  tempests  ;  the  mangostine  groves  ;  the 
rattan  winding  itself  about  the  teak-wood  forest  ;  the  bamboo 
shooting  up  through  all  the  rest ;  the  cultivation  of  European 
fruits  and  native  vegetables  ;  the  simplicity  of  the  native  girls 
as  they  bathe  so  innocently  before  you  as  you  stand  upon  the 
river's  bank,  noting  them  plunging,  singing,  laughing  and  swim- 
ming about — now  below  the  water  and  now  above  ;  the  fright- 
ful look  of  some  of  the  older  men  and  women,  whose  shocking 
custom  of  chewing  the  beetle  nut,  mixed  with  pepper  plant  and 


44  GOVERNMENT    HOUSE. 


tobacco,  gives  their  lips  an  unnatural  red,  and  blackens  their 
teeth  'till  they  resemble  charcoal ;  the  monkey  resembling  ap- 
pearance of  the  babes  and  children,  and  the  monkeys  themselves 
in  the  Governor's  park  ;  the  immense  herd  of  native  deer  ;  the 
wild  hog  ;  the  tiger  and  the  rhinoceros  ;  the  cassowary,  a  huge 
black  bird,  not  unlike,  except  in  color,  the  emu  of  Australia — 
when  you  have  seen  all  these  wonders  of  this  wonderful  country, 
in  a  three  hour's  ride,  you  will  come  to  the  conclusion  that  per- 
sonal observation  will  teach  a  man  more  in  one  day  than  he  can 
learn  from  books  in  an  age. 

The  dreams  of  my  youth  are  all  revived  again,  and  the  pic- 
tures of  my  school  books  give  me  the  form,  but  not  the  life  of 
nature.  When  the  foregoing  changes  have  been  rung  before  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  you  have  drank  deeply  of  such  grand 
and  picturesque  scenery  as  the  view  presents  far  and  near  about 
the  Government  House,  you  cannot  but  imagine  and  feel  that 
you  are  in  a  fairy  land,  and  all  that  is  required  to  complete  the 
illusion,  and  make  a  Garden  of  Eden  of  the  grounds  is  to  see 
but  one  Adam  and  Eve,  instead  of  such  a  swarm  of  semi-clad 
beings. 

Mr.  Leisberg  invited  us  to  the  Palace,  and  after  refreshments 
we  passed  again  through  the  Park  to  the  botanical  garden, 
where  his  Excellency  has  collected  a  large  and  beautiful  quan- 
tity of  European  plants  and  flowers.  The  situation  of  the 
Government  House  is  on  high  land,  and  commands  a  view  of 
the  entire  range  of  mountain  scenery  for  a  hundred  miles.  The 
tops  of  one  or  two.of  the  old  volcanoes  could  be  seen  far  above 
the  clouds — a  most  imposing  sight. 

Five  years  is  the  time  allotted  Jto  the  Governor-General,  and 
shortly  he  will  return.  He  is  a  man,  I  should  say,  of  fifty  years. 

I  am  told  that  he  is  a  very  talented  man,  of  a  religious  turn  ; 

• 


OFFICIAL   RECEPTIONS.  45 


but  he  does  not  appear  to  be  popular.  His  levees  are  given  at 
Batavia  generally,  and  my  departure  to-morrow  prevents  me 
from  seeing  the  beauty  and  fashion  of  the  Dutch,  and  some  of 
their  parti-colored  offspring,  at  the  soiree  that  her  ladyship,  his 
wife,  gives  at  Batavia  to-morrow  night.  These  entertainments 
are  very  formal,  and  the  respect  which  is  due  to  the  representa- 
tive of  the  King  is  still  humiliating,  but  not  as  cringing  and 
abject  as  under  some  of  the  early  Governors.  The  only  English 
work  on  Java  at  the  Palace  was  that  published  in  1817,  by  the 
then  English  Governor  of  the  place,  Sir  T.  S.  Raffles,  a  well 
written  work,  dedicated  to  the  Prince  Regent.  His  private 
journal  which  came  out  at  the  same  time,  contains  much  in  re- 
lation to  Java.  This  good  man  was  much  beloved  by  the 
natives,  and  introduced  many  comforts  and  reforms  among  them. 
A  large  white  monument  in  the  park  tells  the  stranger  that  his 
wife,  Lady  Raffles,  was  only  another  victim  of  the  then  fatal 
climate  of  Java.  It  ia  a  little  singular  that  so  few  able  works 
are  among  the  booksellers  on  the  Indian  Archipelago.  With 
the  exception  of  Raffles,  and  J.  J.  Stockdale,  who  put  out  a 
book  in  1811,  and  in  the  preface  speaks  of  "  that  enemy  of  the 
human  race,  Napoleon  Bonaparte,"  and  George  Winsor  Earle's 
cruise  about  these  seas,  about  twenty  years  ago,  you  will  find 
little  regarding  Java  out  of  the  Dutch  language.  Even 
McCullock  is  not  posted  up  and  gives  no  statistics  later  than 
1834  ;  and  as  I  find  it  very  difficult  to  get  hold  of  these  things 
from  the  merchants,  I  shall  be  unable  to  give  my  mercantile 
friends  whut  I  had  intended. 

Mr.  Leisberg  showed  me  every  attention,  and  when  taking 
my  departure,  presented  me  with  a  beautiful  lance  which  some 
Rajah  had  given  to  him.  He  also  is  going  to  send  me  an  as- 
sortment of  that  ugly  looking  weapon  so  peculiar  to  these 


'"-•     '  '  'j^^fr". 

46  ADMINISTRATION    OF   THE   DUTCH    COLONIES. 


, 

islands,  the  kris  ;  it  is  a  horrid  looking  instrument,  in  the  sword 
or  sabre  line,  and  must  make  a  frightful  wound  when  poisoned 
from  the  upas,  or  whatever  the  deadly  tree  is  called.  The  prick 
or  touch  of  the  kris  is  deadly.  I  bought  at  the  town  a  pair  of 
antlers,  from  a  native  buck,  and  also  was  so  fortunate  as  to  get 
a  complete  model,  beautifully  made  by  a  Malay,  of  a  Japanese 
village  ;  also  models  of  all  their  strange  agricultural  implements, 
their  kitchen  utensils,  war  weapons  and  musical  pieces.  These 
are  beautifully  executed,  and  give  those  who  cannot  get  so  far 
away  to  see  the  originals  a  most  admirable  idea  of  the  primitive 
habits  and  customs  of  these  poor  natives,  who  have  had  to  bow* 
their  heads  to  the  iron  rule  of  conquest  and  military  power  ; 
and  yet,  although  there  are  eleven  millions  in  Java  alone,  there 
are  but  eight  thousand  European  and  twelve  thousand  native 
troops  to  subject  and  keep  down  the  swarming  population  of  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company  —  I  believe  about  twenty-five  mil- 
lions in  all,  made  up  of  Asiatics,  Africans  and  Islanders.  Some 
of  the  dependencies  are  regulated  and  managed  by  the  native 
Princes  or  Rajahs,  but  all  must  cringe  and  bow  to  his  most  po- 
tent, grave  and  reverend  excellency,  Mr.  Van  Twist,  the  Gov- 
ernor General,  who  is  paid  $60,000  per  year,  and  is  furnished 
with  a  palace  whose  rooms  and  massive  structure  throw  entirely 
into  the  shade  the  dimensions  of  the  capitol  at  Washington.  In 
his  administration  he  is  assisted  by  a  Vice  President  and  three 
Counsellors,  a  Finance  Minister,  a  Director  of  the  Interior,  a 
Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  a  Manager  of  Public  Works  ; 
while  the  naval  authority  is  vested  in  Rear  Admiral  Bouricius, 
and  the  head  of  the  army  in  Lieut.  General  Starns.  The  Dutch 
have  a  large  fleet  of  men-of-war  among  their  colonies,  although 
their  army  is  comparatively  ^mall.  I  will  try  and  get  its 
strength  and  add  in  a  postcript. 


REVENUE,    EXPENDITURES,    &C.  47 


The  revenue  of  the  islands  may  be  stated  at  $34,000,000, 
while  the  expense  of  government  and  interest  on  loans  will 
reduce  it  some  $20,000,000 — thus  leaving  the  handsome  sum  of 
$14,000,000  for  the  mother  country. 

The  Portuguese  discoverers  of  1510,  who  were  exploring  these 
waters,  just  after  Columbus  had  found  the  Western  world,  little 
dreamed  of  such  results,  and  sailed  away  in  search  of  other 
lands.  But  the  more  persevering  Dutchmen  of  1595  got  a  foot- 
hold in  Shakspere's  time,  and  just  before  Queen  Elizabeth's 
enterprising  merchants  sent  their  four  ships  to  British  India. 
About  four  months  after  the  pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth, 
Batavia  received  its  name,  and  then  followed  the  subjugation 
and  brutal  conquest  of  an  ancient  and  industrious  people,  whose 
only  crime  was  the  possession  of  rich  and  extensive  lauds. 
Prince  after  prince  laid  down  his  kris,  and  the  rebellious  China- 
men  of  1740  lost  all  their  spirit  in  that  horrible  massacre,  so 
vividly  described  by  the  Dutch  writer,  Ary  Ruyers — more  fright- 
ful than  the  outrages  of  the  American  Indian  on  the  frontier, 
the  bombardment  of  Copenhagen,  or  the  slaughter  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew. For  a  long  time  the  settlers  fought  hard  against  the 
fatality  of  the  climate,  and  the  troops  died  like  rats.  Twelve 
months  in  the  island,  and  half  of  the  regiments  would  fertilize 
the  city  of  the  dead.  Even  in  1812  so  apathetic  were  the  mer- 
chants when  the  bell  tolled  a  funeral  knell,  the  one  would  say  to 
the  other  (as  was  once  the  case  in  New  Orleans  when  the  fatal 
fever  left  me  an  orphan,  and  has  lately  been  in  Virginia)  "Who 
is  it  to  day  1 "  But  it  must  have  been  painful  to  hear  them  add, 
"Well,  he  owed  me  nothing"  From  the  first  the  greatest  enemy 
of  the  European  settler  here  was  the  climate  ;  and  even  now 
the  cheeks  of  the  men  as  well  as  the  women  are  as  white  as  the 
color  of  their  houses,  telling  the  observer  too  plainly  the  iusiuu- 


48  AMERICAN    MERCHANTS    AT    JAVA. 


ating  inroads  upon  the  constitution  ;  and  the  little  children,  so 
pale  and  thin — as  frail  as  the  frailest  flower  that  ever  bloomed 
— must  wither  in  their  youth,  and,  like  hot  house  plants,  will 
live  in  beauty  a  little  while,  and  then  their  freshness  has  gone 
for  ever. 

Among  the  twelve  thousand  Europeans  in  the  islands,  ten 
thousand  probably  are  natives  of  Holland,  and  the  rest  represent 
England  and  the  nations  of  the  Continent ;  but  I  believe  there 
are  only  two  American  merchants  in  Java,  Mr.  Reed  and  his 
brother  of  the  highly  respectable  mercantile  house  of  Paine, 
Strieker  &  Co.,  established  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago,  who,  in  addition  to  a  large  foreign  trade,  are  the  fortunate 
possessors  of  the  lion's  share  of  the  American  trade. — Mr.  Dar- 
ling, so  long  connected  with  the  firm,  who  bought  out  the  Bos- 
ton steamship  Raja  Wallah,  and,  after  trying  her  in  these 
waters,  sold  her  to  the  Australians  when  in  the  height  of  their 
lunatic  speculations,  for  $125,000,  is  now  in  the  States  ;  and 
Mr.  Eaton,  of  Boston,  of  the  wealthy  and  long  established 
English  house  of  McLean,  Watson  &  Co.,  Batavia,  whose 
branches  are  McNiel  &  Co.,  Samarang,  and  Frazer,  Eaton 
&  Co.,  Sourabaya,  is  also  now  at  Boston. 

The  import  duty  on  foreign  cotton  and  woollen  goods  is  25 
per  cent  ad  valorem.  From  Holland,  by  Dutch  ships  or  those 
on  the  same  footing,  if  accompanied  by  a  cetificate  of  Nether- 
lands origin,  the  half.  Import  duty  on  metals,  24  per  cent. 
Iron  and  steel,  12  per  cent,  with  30  per  cent  augmented  on 
invoice.  From  Holland,  accompanied  with  a  certificate  of 
Netherlands  origin,  the  half.  On  all  import  and  export  duties, 
an  impost  of  5  per  cent  pierage  is  added. 

The  monopoly  of  the  government,  in  purchasing  direct  from 
the  planter,  and  restrictive  policy  regarding  other  nations,  par- 


» 

POLITICAL   HISTORY    OF   JAVA.  49 


alyzes  all  private  enterprise,  and  prevents  all  improvement,  and 
Java  at  the  present  day,  so  far  as  modern  culture,  the  steam 
engine,  the  railroad,  the  magnetic  wire  and  the  numberless 
inventions  of  this  wonderful  age  are  concerned,  is  almost  as  far 
behind  the  times  as  Japan,  with  whom  alone  they  have  been 
permitted  to  have  a  limited  trade  for  one  or  two  centuries,  ever 
since  the  Jesuits  were  driven  out  of  Niphon.  Mr.  Leisberg 
informed  me  that  one  step  has  been  made  to  meet  the  times, 
and  in  a  year  or  two  a  telegraphic  wire  will  announce  the  arri- 
val of  ships  passing  Anjer,  at  Batavia,  Samarang  and  Sourabaya 
but  I  doubt  if  the  time  comes  during  the  next  century  when  the 
European  traveler  will  hear  the  whistle  of  the  locomotive  in  the 
cocoa  nut  groves  of  the  inland  provinces,  or  the  Javanese 
ploughman  in  his  rice  field,  or  the  fierce  beasts  of  the  majestic 
forests,  be  disturbed  by  the  whirling  rattle  of  a  railway  train. 
Like  China  there  are  too  many  people  to  employ  to  introduce 
labor  saving  machines. 

When  the  putative  father  of  the  present  Emperor  of  the 
French  was  on  the  throne  of  Holland,  at  Napoleon's  bidding, 
Java  became  a  part  of  France,  and  in  1811,  up  went  the 
French  flug,  which  the  battle  of  Waterloo  surrendered  to  Eng- 
land in  1814,  who,  frightened  by  the  climate,  and  ignorant  of 
its  richness,  restored  it  to  the  Dutch,  preferring  to  keep  Ceylon 
and  the  Cape,  which  mistake  Allison  and  every  Englishman  has 
been  mourning  over  for  almost  half  a  century.  But  it  was  not 
till  1816,  when  its  conqueror,  like  Parrhasus'  captive,  was  chain- 
ed to  the  rock  of  St.  Helena,  did  the  Dutch  flag  again  float 
over  the  gardens  of  the  East. 

But  there  was  one  place  during  all  those  startling  changes 
which  convulsed  Europe  during  Bonaparte's  career,  where  Hol- 
land was  still  supreme,  and  that  was  in  the  little  island  opposite 


,  , 

"v    50  NATIVE    POPULATION. 


Nangasaki,  the  residence  of  the  Dutch  Ambassador,  where  the 
colors  have  never  ceased  to  fly. 

The  natives  are  a  warlike  people,  and  are  ready  to  rise 
when  their  Mahomedan  priests  give  the  signal,  as  has  been  the 
case  two  or  three  times  since  the  Restoration.  Some  thirty 
years  ago  a  most  bloody  warfare  again  put  them  down  ;  and 
only  a  few  years  ago  the  Bally  Princes  were  trodden  under  foot. 
Bearing  in  mind  the  fact  that  nations,  as  a  general  thing,  are 
not  governed  entirely  by  motives  of  benevolence  or  philanthropy, 
and  that  self,  as  with  the  individual,  is  the  ruling  passion,  and 
remembering  that  a  force  of  only  eight  thousand  European  sold- 
iers are  in  the  country,  who,  with  the  other  European  residents 
of  Java,  might  at  any  time  be  massacred  by  millions  of  men  who 
obey,  with  servile  fear,  the  command  of  their  prince  or  priest, 
no  wonder  that  Holland  is  averse  to  liberalizing  the  minds  of 
the  people  by  throwing  open  her  ports  to  the  shipping  and  citizens 
of  all  the  world — ao  wonder  that  foreign  consuls  have  never 
been  recognized,  (until,  I  believe,  very  recently,  for  purely  com- 
mercial purposes) — that  a  system  of  espionage  and  police  tra- 
verses the  land,  and  that  the  poor  trembling  natives  are  cowed 
down  with  craven  fear  by  military  rule  ;  for,  to  my  mind,  the 
introduction  of  European  liberalism  would  immediately  be  the 
signal  at  which  these  prolific  Islands  would  be  lost  to  the  nation. 
When  I  see  any  moral  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the 
natives  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  the  tribes  of  the  Pacific — 
when  I  see  anything  done  to  relieve  the  sufferings  of  the  aborigi- 
nals of  America,  who,  obeying  the  Pequot  lesson,  (says  Holmes, ) 
runs  from  the  white  man  when  he  finds  "  he  smells  of  Holland 
gin  " — when  I  notice  enlightened  England  throwing  over  dark- 
ened India  the  light  of  intellectual  culture — then,  and  not  till 
then,  will  I  amuse  myself  by  abusing  so  industrious  and  coraraer- 


MORALS    OF   THE    EUROPEANS.  51 


cial  a  people  as  the  Dutch,  whose  intelligence  in  langnages,  in 
modern  and  ancient  history,  and  in  general  information,  have 
been  the  characteristics  of  those  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to 
meet. 

The  merchants  here  live  like  princes,  and  ten  to  fifteen  thous- 
and dollars  per  year  is  no  unusual  amount  to  spend.  Mr.  Reed 
has  a  beautiful  residence,  built  by  himself,  on  ground  where  art 
and  nature  have  battled  hard  to  gain  superiority.  Among  the 
ten  or  fifteen  ponies  and  horses  of  different  breeds  in  his  stables,  I 
saw  a  beautiful  Arab  which  he  had  just  imported.  I  could  but 
observe  how  elegantly  the  dinner  tables  are  adorned  in  this 
place — the  meals  and  dessert  all  go  at  once — and  as  you  sit 
down  the  fruits  are  entirely  hidden  from  sight  by  flowers  of 
many  kinds,  which  give  a  most  graceful  appearance  to  the  tout 
ensemble. 

The  least  said  about  the  morals  of  many  of  the  Europeans 
in  these  latitudes,  perhaps,  will  give  the  best  idea  of  them.  The 
Lip-Laps,  as  the  half  cast  are  called  of  ten-times  marry,  and 
some  native  women  are  wedded  to  the  white  man,  but  not  many  ; 
but  when  the  native  girl  discovers  the  infidelity  of  her  compan- 
ion, her  revenge  is  sometimes  terrible,  and  is  hard  to  satiate. 

Although  I  have  seen  so  much  during  my  few  days  stay,  I 
did  not  get  into  the  prison  to  see  an  execution  by  that  most 
awful  manner,  impalement,  (where  the  kris  enters  the  back 
of  the  neck,  and  runs  down  past  the  heart,  while  the  poor  wretch 
is  left  to  torture  in  a  Java  sun  till  the  instrument  gangrenes 
and  corrodes,  and  is  then  torn  out  again  till  life  at  last  is  gone, ) 
and  I  hope  I  shall  never  witness  such  a  spectacle.  This  was 
the  mode  years  ago.  Neither  did  I  see  the  humming  bird  pick 
the  teeth  of  the  alligators,  as  described  by  Herodotus  ;  nor  suc- 
ceed in  seeing  a  genuine  bantam  fowl  on  the  original  soil — the 


52  DEPASTURE,  &C. 


real  bird  which  the  natives  train  for  fighting  is  more  the  shape 
of  a  goose,  however,  than  the  little  wretched  fowl  that  bears 
the  name  with  us. 

To-morrow  I  embark  on  board  the  Konigni  des  Nethalander 
— mail  steamer  under  contract  with  government  to  take  the 
mails  from  Sourabaya,  Samarang  and  Batavia,  on  the  eleventh 
of  every  month,  at  about  twenty-five  hundred  dollars — to  Sin- 
gapore so  as  to  catch  the  China  and  overland  steamer.  I  am 
too  late  for  a  state-room,  and  have  got  to  sleep  on  deck  (pleas- 
ant to  be  sure).  I  don't  remember  ever  paying,  before,  eighty 
dollars  for  five  hundred  miles  steaming,  and  sleeping  on  deck  at 
that  I  As  in  Van  Dieman's  Land,  to  get  out  of  the  country,  I 
had  to  get  a  paper  called  a  "  consent,"  and  also  a  passport  for 
the  guard  ship.  As  the  clipper  ship  Flying  Arrow  that  sailed 
two  days  before  us  has  not  arrived,  I  fear  that  the  gale  we 
experienced  off  Cape  Otnay  must  have  crippled  her. 


V 


CHAPTER   V. 

ON  BOARD  STEAMER  QUEEN  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS,  ) 
STRAITS  OF  BANCA,  Dec.  13.  1855.      ) 

The  Voyage  to  Singapore — Our  Fellow  Passengers — Olla  Podrida  of 
Nationalities — Pilgrims  to  Mecca — Arab  Women — Arrival  at  Minto — 
Off  Singapore — Dutch  Diplomacy  in  Japan — Commerce  with  that 
Empire — The  Hollanders  Catching  the  Bird  while  other  Nations  are 
Beating  the  Bush — The  American  Treaty  with  Japan  so  much  Waste 
Paper — The  Japanese  Mail  System — A  Political  Discussion  at  a  Dutch 
Dinner  Table — The  Dutch  Na\y  in  the  Indian  Archipelago,  <fec.,  <fec. 

PROMPT  to  her  time  the  steamer  left  Batavia  at  8  A.  M.  yes- 
terday, and  works  admirably,  pushing  us  along  at  the  rate  of 
nine  and  ten  knots.  She  is  a  Batavian  built  boat,  seventeen 
years  old,  made  of  teak  and  very  roughly  finished.  The  cabin 
accommodations  are  very  poor,  but  the  table  makes  up  for  all 
deficiencies  ;  and  with  our  tea  and  coffee  at  6,  our  breakfast  at 
12,  dinner  at  5,  and  refreshments  in  the  evening,  all  of  good 
quality,  well  cooked,  we  have  no  complaints  to  make.  Schnapps 
and  liquors  are  always  en  a  side  table — a  most  attractive  part 
of  the  boat  to  the  Dutch  passengers,  among  whom  are  some  of 
the  most  agreeable  gentleman  I  ever  met.  There  was  a  large 
sugar  planter,  I  forget  his  name — and  Mr.  Loudon,  who  takes 
charge  of  the  tin  mines  at  Billitou,  Island  of  Banca,  leased  for 
forty  years  to  Prince  Henry,  brother  of  the  King  of  Holland, 
and  Captain  Fabius,  commander  of  the  Dutch  steamer  Gedeh, 


54  OUR    FELLOW    PASSENGERS. 


just  arrived  from  Nangasaki,  who  is  en  route  for  Holland  with 
the  new  Dutch  treaty  just  executed  by  the  Emperor  of  Japan 
and  the  Dutch  Commissioner,  from  whom  I  have  obtained  much 
valuable  information. 

We  have  also  on  board  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Victoria — a 
pleasant  quiet  man,  who  wishes  to  have  slavery  abolished  in  the 
United  States  ;  hopes  that  Cuba  will  never  be  a  part  of  that 
extensive  country,  and  beats  me  shockingly  at  chess.  Captain 
Prince,  our  commander,  has  been  some  sixteen  years  in  the 
waters,  and  I  find  him  a  most  intelligent  man.  While  doing 
the  honors  of  the  table,  he  conversed  with  the  Belgian  Consul 
in  French,  the  Bishop  in  English,  spoke  Dutch  to  his  country- 
men, and  ordered  the  servants  in  Malay.  Our  steamer  is  crowd- 
ed with  all  kinds  of  men,  manners  and  customs.  A  party  of 
Arab  merchants  have  attracted  the  most  attention.  They  are 
very  wealthy,  and  paid  $600  for  a  small  portion  of  the  cabin. 
Although  cabin  passengers  they  keep  aloof  from  Europeans,  all 
huddling  round  their  trunks  and  merchandise,  on  which  they 
sleep,  eat,  and  pray,  under  an  awning  on  deck,  disdaining  to  mix 
with  the  infidels  at  our  end  of  the  boat.  These  singular  costum- 
ed men — of  white  robe,  huge  turban,  sandal  footed,  mustached 
and  whiskered  sons  of  Mahomet — are  bound  on  a  pilgrimage 
to  Mecca,  and  at  certain  hours  they  go  off  and  wash  them- 
selves and  then  come  back  to  pray.  It  is  an  unusual  spectacle. 
All  arranged  in  a  row,  with  the  chief  one  step  advanced  in 
front,  they  mutter  their  prayers  kneeling,  standing,  sitting,  now 
touching  their  foreheads  to  the  deck,  now  kissing  the  hand  of 
the  chief,  now  gesticulating  in  the  most  unintelligible  manner  ; 
again  bowing  their  swarthy  forms,  again  rising  ;  now  turning 
their  faces  upward  and  then  changing  their  position,  always 
bending — like  the  forest  trees  under  the  westerly  winds  in  the 


ARAB    \VOMEX.  55 


North  of  England — towards  the  East,  or,  as  they  supposed 
towards  Mecca,  and,  finally,  kissing  each  other's  hands  at  the 
benediction.  All  this  ceremony  is  being  performed  among  all 
the  different  tribes  who  acknowledge  Shem  as  their  paternal 
ancestor,  for  it  was — 

"  Shem's  proud  children  reared  the  Assyrian  piles, 
WhiK*  Ham's  were  scattered  through  the  Sandwich  Isles." 

We  have  on  board  a  lot  of  Malay  convicts,  several  Chinese 
merchants,  some  shipwrecked  English  sailors,  a  company  of 
native  soldiers  who  proudly  wear  the  uniform,  and  many  of  the 
islanders,  all  speaking  and  muttering  their  several  languages. 
No  wonder  the  Tower  of  Babel  was  rather  suddenly  impeded 
in  its  progress  by  the  change  in  the  workmen's  style  of  conver- 
sation. Rattling  beans  in  a  tin  tube,  shaking  shot  on  a  paste- 
board, or  talking  with  about  four  men  at  one  time  that  stammer, 
will  give  you  an  idea  of  the  sound. 

Our  Malay  crew  of  seventy  are  under  the  serang,  who  works 
them  with  his  boatswain's  whistle.  I  pity  the  captain  who,  not 
understanding  the  language  without  a  serang,  takes  a  Malay 
crew.  When  giving  some  important  order  to  the  men  aloft,  in 
the  midst  of  a  violent  squall,  the  irritability  of  the  captain 
reaches  its  height  to  see  them  all  pouring  down  the  shrouds  to 
ask  him  what  he  said  I 

I  could  not  get  a  sight  of  the  Arab  women.  They  came  on 
board  closely  veiled,  and  were  immediately  locked  up  in  their 
state  rooms.  The  Arab  children  are  beautifully  formed,  with 
their  large  black  eyes  and  regular  features,  the  rings  made  of 
brass  about  their  feet,  and  the  little  covering  for  the  chest, 
which  stops  just  where  the  native  covering  usually  commences  ! 

We  arrived  at  Miuto  (named  I  suppose  after  the  British 


56  SINGAPORE. 



Governor  General)  at  night,  and  early  in  the  morning  steamed 
for  Rhio,  and  then  we  have  no  more  stopping  places  till  we  ar- 
rive at  Singapore.  Banca  is  noticeable  only  for  its  tin  mines  ; 
about  4,000  tons  are  annually  shipped  from  Minto,  and  if 
modern  machinery  was  introduced  large  quantities  could  be  pro- 
cured. The  ore  is  found  near  the  surface,  and  is  said  to  be  the 
finest  known.  There  are  only  twenty-five  European  residents. 
The  mines  are  worked  by  Chinese  coolies,  who  are  brought 
down  for  sale,  a  damnable  species  of  slave  trade  peculiar  to 
these  nations  !  The  straits  of  Banca  are  about  one  hundred 
miles  long,  and  in  one  place  only  seven  wide,  which  gives  us  a 
fine  view  of  the  long  coast  of  Sumatra.  In  some  places  the 
land  is  very  low,  and  you  cannot  even  find  Horsburg's  tree  ; 
and  then  you  have  a  volcanic  range  of  mountain  scenery,  with 
foliage  from  base  to  summit  a  beautiful  green.  Remember  your 
excursion  from  Kingston  to  Montreal,  and  you  will  find  a  faint 
resemblance  of  the  scenery,  for  even  here  we  have  our  thousand 
islands. 

OFF  SINGAPORE,  Dec.  14. 

Our  passage  against  wind  and  tide,  part  of  the  way,  has  been 
a  quick  one,  for  we  shall  anchor  at  six  o'clock  to-night  ;  leaving 
Batavia  at  eight  o'clock  on  the  llth,  arrived  at  Minto  at  ten 
o'clock  P.  M.  the  next  day ;  left  there  at  six  o'clock  A.  M.,  and 
touched  Rhio,  (a  small  settlement  with  a  dozen  Europeans)  at 
eight  o'clock  A.  M.  on  the  14th,  and  here  we  are  at  Singapore 
in  a  passage  of  eighty-two  hours,  having  stopped  ten  on  the  way, 
which  is  very  fair  for  a  distance  of  five  hundred  miles.  I  have 
seen  little  of  note  since  leaving  Batavia,  and  do  not  think  that  I 
can  fill  up  my  page  in  a  manner  more  interesting  to  your  read- 
ers than  by  giving  you  the  latest  dates  from  Japan.  Captain 


DUTCH    DIPLOMACY    IN    JAPAN.  51 


Fabius  left  Nangasaki  on  the  loth  ult.,  where  he  has  been  for 
about  four  months  waiting  to  bring  negotiations  to  a  close.  Of 
course  the  King  of  Holland  must  see  the  paper  before  the  rest  of 
the  world,  but  from  what  I  can  gather,  the  Dutch  have  added 
another  important  link  to  their  chain.  Holland's  policy  has 
always  been  diplomacy  instead  of  cannon,  and  from  their  first  foot- 
hold in  the  trade  in  1611,  obtained  through  their  assistance  in 
driving  out  the  Jesuitical  Portuguese — which  timely  aid  the  Ja- 
panese have  never  forgotten — and  no  doubt,  had  not  the  Dutch  re- 
sorted to  all  kinds  of  chicanery  at  that  early  period  in  trying  to 
overreach  the  natives  of  Niphon,  they  would  not  have  had  to  debase 
and  lower  themselves  in  such  a  disgraceful  manner  as  is  vividly  de- 
scribed by  their  own  writers,  Baron  Van  Imhoff  and  Valantyn, 
in  their  endeavors  to  continue  a  commerce  which  early  writers 
have  told  us  amounted,  during  a  period  of  sixty  years  to  1671, 
to  between  two  and  three  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  the  profits 
of  which  must  have  been  enormous.  This  may  well  be  called 
their  golden  age.  Bribery  and  corruption  on  the  part  of  the 
Dutch  factory,  erected  at  Nangasaki,  in  1641,  no  doubt,  caused 
the  sudden  change  of  policy  of  the  Emperor,  for  first  stopping 
the  silver,  he  afterwards  shut  up  the  gold  mines,  and  then  the 
Dutch  were  gradually  reduced  every  few  years  to  a  most  restrict- 
ed intercourse,  and  had  to  submit  to  insults  which  a  Christian 
nation  should  have  resented.  From  gold  to  silver,  from  silver 
to  copper,  their  trade  at  this  time,  1750  was  their  age  of  bronze. 
No  doubt  the  loss  of  the  Island  of  Formosa,  in  1661  also  les- 
sened the  respect  which  the  Japanese  so  long  held  for  the  Dutch. 
The  Chinese  also  were  cut  down  from  eighty  junks  to  twenty. 
This  nation  used  to  get  two-thirds  of  the  trade,  leaving  one-third, 
for  the  Dutch.  The  English,  who  tried  to  open  a  commerce 
from  1616  to  1623,  and  again  from  1673  to  1682,  could  accom- 


58  COMMERCE    WITH   JAPAN. 


plish  nothing,  and  the  East  India  Company's  select  committee 
reported,  in  1792,  that  the  result  of  one  small  venture  showed 
a  loss  of  $150,000.  Having  squeezed  the  Dutch  down  to  a 
mere  peddling  trade,  the  commerce  varied  little  during  the  lat- 
ter half  of  the  past  century,  and  it  is  most  interesting  to  look 
over  the  account  sales  of  the  inward  and  outward  annual  cargo 
at  the  company's  records  at  Batavia.  In  1804-5  an  invoice, 
amounting  to  $212,000,  from  Java,  consisting  of  sugar,  rice,  tin, 
sapan  wood,  nutmegs,  spices,  pig  lead  and  prints  and  cloths, 
after  adding  all  expenses,  outfit,  &c.,  cost,  laid  down  at  Nan- 
gasaki,  $380,000,  the  loss  on  which  was  perfectly  ruinous,  the 
entire  outward  cargo  only  netting  $92,000.  But  it  was  the 
return  cargo  of  copper  and  camphor  which  changed  the  result  of 
the  voyage  ;  this  realized  $886,000,  giving  the  company  a  clear 
profit  of  over  half  a  million  of  dollars.  In  1806,  however,  the 
Dutch  ship  did  not  do  so  well ;  the  cargo  costing  $394,000, 
produced  only  $569,000,  thus  netting  but  $176,000.  But  even 
this  average  the  English  did  not  keep  up,  when  the  Dutch  pos- 
sessions in  the  East  fell  into  their  hands  from  the  French  by 
treaty,  for  the  accounts  of  their  voyage  in  1813,  made  up  with 
the  same  assorted  produce  of  Java,  which  cost  them  laid  down, 
$298,000,  and  sold  at  a  loss  of  60  per  cent,  and  on  the  proceeds 
of  which  the  return  cargo  of 

Japan  copper,  Ibs.    -  ^>    902,452         $223,727 

Camphor,  Ibs.  -  -        -       60,437  45,785 

Pitch,  Ibs.  -  1,208  600 


Total    - $670,112 

They  only  had  a  balance  in  their  favor  of  $44,000.  And  I 
think  this  latter  venture  up  to  the  present  time,  under  the 
Dutch,  has  not  been  more  than  double  ;  at  any  rate,  I  don't 
believe  they  have,  lately  realized  $200,000  a  year  from  the 


HOLLANDERS    CATCHING    THE    BIRD.  59 


trade,  to  get  which  they  have  submitted  to  indignities  unworthy 
of  so  commercial  and  intelligent  a  people. 

A  reduction  in  their  copper  importation  from  30,000  piculs, 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  to  6,000  now,  will  show  the  falling 
off  in  Dutch  commerce  in  Japan.  From  eight  or  ten  ships  in 
1650 — they  have  now  been  reduced  to  two — up  to  the  time  of 
Nov.  15,  1855,  when  a^new  treaty  was  made,  the  bearer  of 
which  will  leave  for  Holland  by  the  overland  mail  which  takes 
this  letter.  You  shall  have,  however,  all  I  have  been  able  to 
gather  regarding  the  stay  of  the  Gedeh  war  steamship  at  Xan- 
gasaki  from  the  conversation  of  Captain  Fabius.  Last  year 
this  gentleman  carried  out,  as  a  present  to  the  Emperor  of  Japan, 
a  steamship  of  170  horse  power,  and  left  in  her  a  crew  of  twen- 
ty-two men,  as  sailors,  engineers  and  mechanics,  to  learn  the 
Japanese  how  to  manage  her.  These  men  are  to  remain  in 
Japan  two  years  under  the  pay  of  the  Government  of  Holland. 
This  is  the  way  the  Dutch  put  in  their  wedge.  From  the  first 
it  has  been  their  habit  to  send  the  Emperor  and  chief  officials 
elegant  presents  ;  and  every  year  they  carry  a  large  assortment 
of  scientific  books  on  all  practical  subjects,  printed  in  the  Dutch 
language,  and  presented  to  the  government.  Dutch  teachers 
are  instructing,  under  Japanese  pay,  several  schools  in  Japan, 
and  Japanese  teachers  are  also  teaching  Dutch  scholars  at 
Nangasaki.  Thus  the  Dutch,  in  every  possible  manner,  have 
been  quietly  working  the  oracle,  and,  in  my  mind,  they  have  so 
managed  their  cards  as  to  catch  the  bird  while  Commodore 
Perry,  Admiral  Stirling,  and  the  Russian  commander  have  all 
been  beating  the  bush.  The  treaties  of  the  United  States  in 
1853,  England  in  October,  1854,  and  Russia,  about  the  same 
time,  in  my  opinion,  amount  to  just  so  much  waste  paper  ;  and 
I  don't  know  which  government  will  first  acknowledge  the  sell 


60  AMERICAN    TREATY    WITH   JAPAN. 



I  have  just  read  the  correspondence  of  Reed  &  Co.,  in  the  San 
Francisco  Herald,  of  Sept.  19,  who  fitted  out  from  San  Fran- 
cisco a  schooner  for  Simoda,  and  who  had  returned  to  Cali- 
fornia disgusted  with  the  Japanese  for  not  allowing  a  landing 
at  Hakodadi.  They  ought  to  have  known  that  the  treaty  did 
not  allow  them  to  trade.  The  three  nations  are  all  on  the  same 
footing,  being  simply  permitted  to  put  into  Nangasaki  and 
Simoda  (Commodore  Perry  preferred  Hakodadi,)  for  water, 
fuel  and  provisions.  So  far  as  provisions  are  concerned,  that 
clause  will  prove  abortive,  for  the  Japanese  refuse  to  sell  you 
bullocks,  because  they  are  beasts  of  burden  for  ploughing  the 
soil ;  sheep  cannot  be  purchased,  as  their  wool  and  skin  is  re- 
quired for  clothing  ;  and  hens  and  other  domestic  fowls  are  not 
to  be  had,  as  they  furnish  eggs  for  the  food  of  man  ;  nor  cows, 
as  their  milk  is  much  sought  after.  Thus  these  people,  either 
because  it  interferes  with  their  religion,  or  on  account  of  some 
local  requirement  or  superstition,  furnish  an  excuse  for  most  of 
the  necessaries  of  life.  In  diplomacy  I'd  put  the  Japanese 
against  the  world.  Commodore  Perry  got  what  he  asked  for, 
and  left  for  the  United  States  with  all  the  edat  of  a  benefactor 
of 'commerce.  Out  Of  sight,  out  of  mind.  It  seems  the  clauses 
of  the  treaty  in  the  Saxon  and  in  the  Island  tongue  are  somewhat 
differently  interpreted.  "  Temporary  "  residence  at  Hakodadi 
and  Simoda,  means,  in  Japanese,  ten  minutes,  or  ten  days,  as 
may  suit  the  Emperor  ;  and  "  citizens,"  in  his  language,  does 
not  mean  women  !  and  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  Commander 
Rogers,  of  our  navy,  no  matter  how  ably  he  may  write  to  the 
Governor  of  the  port,  to  make  him  understand  that  supplies 
mean  the  necessities  of  man,  or  that  Commodore  Perry  made 
any  arrangements  whatever  for  trading.  I  understand  that  a 
Mr.  Townsend  Harris  is  expected  in  the  mail  steamer  due  to- 


JAPANESE    MAIL    SYSTEM.  61 


morrow,  and  that  he  has  been  empowered  and  appointed  Am- 
bassador to  Siam,  and  Consul  General  at  J  apan.  Of  the  former 
place  I  will  speak  hereafter  ;  but  of  the  latter  appointment  I 
think  it  will  do  about  as  much  good  and  prove  about  as  essential 
to  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  as  blowing  up  a  feather  in 
the  air  for  the  purpose  of  catching  it  on  your  nose.  What  can 
he  do  ?  Who  is  he  to  see,  and  where  will  he  go  ?  and  where, 
oh  !  where,  I  ask,  is  he  to  stop,  and  at  what  hotel  ?  Even  the 
Dutch  Commissioner,  who  resides  at  Decima  is  only  allowed  to 
visit  Jeddo  once  in  four  years,  and  then,  as  Sir  John  Davis  went 
to  Pekin,  he  is  obliged  to  go  in  a  close  chair,  and  see  nothing 
of  this  hermit  style  of  people.  Will  Mr.  Harris  go  by  a  steam- 
ship to  Jeddo  ?  If  so,  the  chances  are  he  will  be  requested  to 
negotiate  by  the  way  of  Hakodadi  or  Simoda,  and  Simoda,  you 
are  aware,  after  throwing  the  Russian  frigate  Dwina  in  the  air 
two  or  three  times — the  water  rising  with  a  terrific  swell  thirty 
feet,  says  Captain  Fabius— has  been  almost  entirely  destroyed 
as  a  seaport. 

The  journey  inland  by  the  Dutch  Commissioners'  road,  in  a 
sedan  chair,  will  take  about  sixty  days,  although  the  regular 
mail  goes  through  from  Xangasaki  in  fifteen  days.  This  mail  is 
carried  in  a  small  mail  bag,  by  a  runner,  who,  with  bell  in  hand 
to  notify  the  next  courier,  measures  off  his  one  mile,  throws  the 
bag  on  the  man  who  is  waiting,  and  off  the  new  postman  shoots, 
with  a  long  stride  and  fleet  foot,  to  the  next,  and  so  on  to  the 
next,  and  in  this  way  the  Japanese  mail  is  passed  from  one  run- 
ner to  another  along  the  government  road  till  the  letters  are 
delivered  at  the  imperial  office  of  his  high  and  mighty  majesty, 
the  Emperor. 

Important  government  express  demands  a  wider  step  and 
quicker  speed,  and  goes  through  in  eleven  days.  Mr.  Silas  E. 


62 


Burroughs  must  have  been  disgusted  with  his  adventure  in  the 
Lady  Pierce.  I  have  seen  no  account  of  it — having  been  shut 
up  so  long  in  Australia — but  I  have  been  told  that  after  they 
had  drank  up  all  his  champagne,  and  returned  to  him  with  many 
thanks  for  his  generosity  the  gold  dollars  which  he  had  present- 
ed to  the  several  officials,  they  intimated  to  him,  in  a  very  pleas- 
ant quiet  way,  peculiar  to  this  singular  nation,  that  unless  he 
had  some  important  business  to  detain  him  in  Japan,  that  they 
should  not  make  the  least  objection  to  his  evacuating  the  prem- 
ises at  his  earliest  possible  convenience. 

The  ratification  of  the  English  treaty  has  just  gone  to  Eng- 
land, and  Admiral  Stirling  has  immortalized  himself  in  taking 
the  Russian  officers  shipwrecked  in  the  Dwina  out  of  a  neutral 
merchantman,  and  in  putting  the  final  seal  to  such  a  milk  and 
water  paper,  like  that  signed  by  Commodore  Perry,  while  the 
Russian  fleet  slipped  by  him  in  the  fog  from  Petropolowski  to 
the  Amoor,  and  from  the  Amoor  into  the  air — for  nobody  has 
yet  been  able  to  discover  where  they  have  gone  to.  He  had 
better  resign.  I  was  much  amused  to  day  at  the  dinner  table 
to  hear  Captain  Fabius — who  so  quietly  and  ably  managed  the 
business  for  his  King,  and  the  Right  Hon.  Mr.  Stuart,  Post 
Captain  in  the  extensive  fleet  of  twelve  men  of  war,  (who,  after 
laying  a  month  at  Nangasaki  for  the  sealing  of  the  all  important 
document,  are  heading  towards  India  and  home) — discuss  the 
question  of  Japan.  England  and  Holland  got  quite  warm  in 
the  discussion,  and  England  warmly  intimated  that  had  he  had 
charge  of  the  affair  he  would  have  blown  Nangasaki  and  the 
Dutch  ports  into  the  air  before  he  would  submit  to  such  indig- 
nities as  to  which  the  Japanese  wished  to  subject  the  war  fleet. 
Our  treaty,  said  he,  is  all  gammon,  and  I  would  not  give  a 
banana  for  yours.  Holland,  however,  replied  why  so — has  not 


DUTCH    DINNER   TABLE.  63 


the  Admiral  received  all  he  asked  for  ?  If  you  want  my  segar 
box  and  I  give  it  to  you,  are  you  to  knock  me  down  for  not 
presenting  you  with  my  hat  ? — Very  good,  said  England,  you 
have  me  there,  and  my  epaulettes  prevent  a  reply — for  the 
tongue  must  be  silent  when  State  questions  are  discussed  in 
which  yon  do  not  happen-to  be  the  principal — but  it  seemed  to 
him  that  the  time  had  passed  for  any  nation  to  act  the  oyster, 
and  live  a  miser's  life  in  this  enlightened  age  ;  and  more  espe- 
cially as  the  people  are  desirous  of  trading  and  opening  their 
ports,  while  the  iron  rule  of  the  government  forbids  them  to 
express  an  opinion  lest  some  spy  (for  espionage  in  Japan  is  even 
superior  to  that  of  France  or  Russia)  report  the  expression,  and 
then  follows  that  remarkable  execution  where  the  culprit  with 
his  own  hand,  at  the  command  of  the  official,  rips  open  his 
bowels  and  dies  by  his  own  action. 

"  You  must  remember,"  said  Captain  Fabius,  "  that  the  en- 
tire control  of  the  nation  is  at  the  will  of  the  Emperor,  and  that 
he  monopolizes  all  the  commerce  of  the  country.  He  is  the 
head  manager  and  principal  merchant  in  the  Island  for  all  mer- 
cantile affairs,  and  that  every  one  of  his  subjects  must  give  him 
so  much  wheat  every  crop  for  the  State  granary,  which  is  put 
aside  to  meet  the  requirements  of  a  short  crop,  when  it  is  all 
distributed  to  the  people,  and  that  the  religion  and  customs  of 
centuries  cannot  be  easily  thrown  aside.  The  Japanese  inter- 
fere with  no  one.  You  make  laws  in  England  ;  and  what  is 
more,  you  enforce  them.  So  do  we  in  Holland,  and  so  do  the 
Japanese  ;  and  when  they  give  you  all  that  you  have  asked  for, 
you  say  you  will  break  their  laws,  and  bombard  their  cities, 
and  destroy  their  coastwise  trade — for  what  ?  Because  they 
are  what  you  suppose  to  be  weak  ;  you  are  strong.  They  have 
boundless  wealth  in  the  hidden  vaults  of  their  treasury,  and  you 


64  JAPAN   A    SEALED    BOOK. 


are  powerful  enough  to  make  them  disgorge.  The  old  story  of 
Alexander  the  Great  and  the  gentleman  who  puts  his  hand  in 
your  pocket." 

As  I  before  remarked,  from  the  conversations  of  the  mer- 
chants here,  and  the  naval  gentleman  above  named,  who  sat 
opposite  to  me,  the  Japanese  ports  will  not  be  opened  to  Eng- 
land and  America  for  many  years,  unless  by  invasion,  or  some 
sudden  turn  in  the  policy  of  a  country  that  has  managed  to  find 
resources  within  itself  to  cater  to  its  wants  for  over  two  centu- 
ries. 

Humboldt  somewhere  has  said  that  when  the  oceans  em- 
braced at  the  Darien  Isthmus,  the  fact  of  its  bringing  the  celes- 
tial productions  some  two  thousand  leagues  nearer  the  civilized 
world,  might  bring  about  a  change,  for  he  considered  this  little 
neck  of  land  which  obliges  ships  to  go  round  the  Horn  as  the 
bulwark  that  prevents  the  independence  of  China  and  Japan. 

The  Panama  Railroad  has  united  the  oceans,  and  the  old 
man  eloquent,  as  nature's  nobleman,  is  on  his  way  to  his  long 
home,  but  Japan  is  still  a  sealed  book  to  the  commerce  of  the 
world.  Captain  Fabius  takes  home  samples  of  hemp  and  wheat, 
but  they  cost  high.  Even  though  a  trade  is  commenced  by  in- 
troducing many  things,  as  in  China,  from  the  Western  nations, 
not  before  used,  what  are  we  to  get  in  return"?  for  in  several 
instances  it  has  been  difficult  even  to  find  sufficient  copper  to  com- 
plete the  annual  cargoes  of  the  Dutch.  They  have  camphor 
and  Japan  ware,  and  bijouterie  ;  raw  silk,  ambergris,  rice  and 
timber,  wheat  and  hemp  ;  but  all  these  articles  are  too  high  for 
profitable  investment.  What,  then,  are  they  to  pay  us  with, 
unless  we  once  more  manage  to  unlock  their  precious  metals  ? 

In  a  former  letter  I  intimated  that  if  possible- 1  would  get  a 
statement  of  the  strength  of  the  Dutch  navy  in  the  Indian  Ar- 


DUTCH    NAVY.  ()5 


chipelago  ;  and,  through  the  courtesy  of  Captain  Fabius,  whose 
pleasant  manners  and  good  common  sense  make  him  most  at- 
tractive, I  am  able  to  jot  down  the  following  : — 

Steamships  Amsterdam,  8  guns,  for  Japan  when  Captain  Fa- 
bius gets  back  ;  Gedeh,  8  ;  Etna,  6 ;  Vesuvius,  6  ;  Samarang, 
10  ;  Celebes,  4  ;  Borneo,  4  ;  Surinam,  6 ;  Onrust,  2  ;  Admi- 
ral King's  bark,  2  ;  Batavia,  4 — and  several  schooners. 

Under  canvass,  Prince  Frederick,  44  guns,  (frigate) ;  Palem 
Bang,  44  do.;  Boreas,  28  ;  Yan  Speyk,  28  ;  De  Pliades,  12  ; 
De  Hague,  18. 

Also,  daily  expected,  Prince  Alexander,  44  guns  ;  Fregat 
de  Ruiter,  60  ;  Medusa,  22  ;  Monteado,  12  ;  Scudora,  4  ; 
Pheuix,  6 — all  manned  by  3,800  sailors.  . 


> 


CHAPTER   VI. 

LONDON  HOTEL,  SINGAPORE,  Dec.  20,  1855. 

A  Singapore  Hotel — Its  Inconveniences  and  Horrors — Importance  of 
Singapore  as  a  Commercial  Rendezvous — The  Opium  Privilege — 
Scenery  of  the  Island — Environs  of  the  City — The  Population,  Native 
and  Foreign — The  Chinese  Millionaire,  Wampoa — Trade  of  Singapore 
— The  Malay  Pirates — American  Commerce  in  the  Indian  Archipelago 
— SJhm  and  its  Exclusiveness — Efforts  to  Open  its  Trade — Horrors  of 
the  Coolie  Traffic,  <fcc.,  <fec. 

THE  mail  steamer  from  Europe  for  China  has  just  been  tele- 
graphed ;  and,  as  I  am  bound  to  the  celestial  regions  by  this 
boat,  and,  as  she  stops  but  a  few  hours  to  drop  the  mail,  my 
glance  at  Singapore,  I  fear,  will  have  to  be  postponed  till  time 
and  observation  will  allow  me  to  do  it  justice.  However,  I 
will  write  on  till  the  bell  rings,  and  crowd  as  much  together  as 
space  will  admit.  After  luxuriating  in  the  fairy  grotto  scenery 
of  Java,  and  grown  fat  on  the  good  living  and  courteous  treat- 
ment one  may  receive  there,  (notwithstanding  Holland  acts  the 
miser  and  dog  in  the  manger  in  her  commerce,)  the  traveler 
(not  an  Englishman)  who  looks  at  Singapore  as  he  lands  in  a 
fog,  with  a -dozen  Kling  boatmen,  as  savage  in  appearance  as 
fancy  can  picture,  taking  away  your  baggage,  and  talking  and 
gesticulating  like  maniacs,  an  unintelligible  jargon — while  you 
jump  into  a  gurry,  with  a  stout  runt  of  a  horse,  and  see  the 
syce  (driver)  rush  off  at  a  long,  wolf-like  trot,  holding  his  gal- 


A    SINGAPORE    HOTEL.  67 


loping  animal  by  a  small  rope,  instead  of  mounting  a  coachman's 
seat,  like  a  civilized  being — when  you  get  fairly  settled  down  in 
that  huge  pile  of  ugly  looking  buildings,  covering  a  good  sized 
farm,  and  known  as  the  London  Hotel,  and  kept  in  a  manner 
that  would  disgrace  a  landlord  in  the  backwoods  of  Kansas, 
where  your  food  looks  uninviting,  and  is  brought  to  you  at  the  ^ 
long,  well  ventilated  and  puncah  cooling  dining  hall,  by  Asiatics 
and  Islanders  who  always  seem  to  me  to  have  their  hands  upon 
their  half-clad  body,  when  you  want  a  piece  of  bread,  some 
Malay  curry,  or  a  pineapple  ;  and  when,  perhaps,  your  sensitive- 
ness makes  you  dainty — where  your  boots  and  books  get  mil- 
dewed, and  your  brown  leather  trunk  resembles  the  skin  of  a 
Maltese  cat,  it  has  become  so  mouldy— where  your  cocoa  nut 
oil  lamp,  manufactured  out  of  a  tumbler  of  water,  on  the  surface 
of  which  a  little  piece  of  pith  kept  floating  on  the  oil,  by  means 
of  bits  of  cork,  answers  for  wicking,  burns  dimly,  and  you  can- 
not get  a  candle — where  the  bowling  alley  and  billiard  room  are 
surrounded  by  the  sons  of  the  sun,  and  the  natives,  who  laugh 
at  costume — where  the  labyrinth  of  passages,  show  cases  and 
rooms,  require  a  man  to  have  a  compass,  if  he  does  not  wish  to 
lose  his  reckoning,  and  get  out  of  his  proper  track — I  say, 
when  you  think  of  your  comforts  and  enjoyments  at  the  Java 
Hotel,  in  Batavia,  and  then  experience  the  annoyance  and  con- 
fusion at  the  London,  you  will  come  to  the  conclusion  that  in 
some  things  Java  and  Singapore  are  widely  different.  The 
Adelphi  is  no  better,  and  I  believe  is  now  turned  into  a  boarding 
house;  and  I  cannot  see  what  it  was  young  Marryat  noticed  that 
was  worth  recommending  when  he  published,  a  few  years  since, 
that  very  stupid  book,  "Borneo  and  the  Indian  Archipelago," 
the  plates  in  which  are  its  only  redeeming  characters. 

But  enough  of  this — for  why  lose  my  temper  on  what  I  cannot 


68  OPIUM    PRIVILEGE. 


remedy,  unless  it  is  to  recommend  some  enterprising  American 
to  come  out  and  establish  a  hotel  worthy  of  so  fine  a  city  as  Sin- 
gapore. There  is  money  in  the  trial,  depend  upon  it,  for  this  is 
the  grand  central  station  of  the  entire  commerce  of  the  East — 
the  half-way  house  between  Calcutta  and  China,  and  the  ren- 
dezvous of  all  the  Dutch  bound  home — for  I  doubt  much 
whether  they  get  on  a  mail  line  direct  from  Holland  to  Java  for 
many  years. 

Sir  Stamford  Raffles  showed  his  good  judgment  and  good 
sense  when  he  so  energetically,  and  on  his  own  responsibility, 
established  the  colony  in  1819,  (which  the  British  Government 
would  not  acknowledge  for  some  three  years,  on  account  of  the 
remonstrances  of  the  Dutch,  who  saw  a  powerful  rival  in  com- 
merce springing  up  near  their  own  door,  as  a  sentinel  of  England 
to  watch  the  movements  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company, )  in 
making  Singapore  a  free  port  ;  for  here  you  have  free  trade  in 
reality  ;  no  taxes  on  shipping,  no  pilotage,  no  import  and  ex- 
port tariff,  nothing  but  a  trifling  charge  as  light  dues.  I  was 
at  a  loss  to  see  where  the  revenue  came  from  ;  but  when  I  re- 
member that  the  celebrated  opium  farmer  pays  $15,000  a  month, 
or  $180,000  a  year,  for  the  privilege  of  retailing  this  intoxicat- 
ing drug  to  the  natives,  we  see  whence  a  part  of  it  is  derived. 
This  privilege  is  sold  annually,  at  auction,  to  the  highest  bidder, 
but  Joon  Tick  for  many  years  has  overbid  Ms  competitors  ;  and 
notwithstanding  the  enormous  government  tax,  he  has  made  an 
immense  fortune  out  of  it,  so  extensively  is  opium  used  by  all 
the  natives  who  can  get  a  few  cents  to  purchase  it.  He  also 
pays  some  $5,000  per  year  for  selling  spirits,  which  gives  him 
the  monopoly  of  both  these  articles. 

The  government  also  get  some  $10,000  per  annum  quit  rent^ 
as  it  is  called,  and  derive  something  from  the  planters.  The 


SCENERY    OF   THE    ISLAND.  69 


island,  about  sixty  miles  in  circumference,  possesses  a  large  ter- 
ritory capable  of  cultivation  ;  and  Singapore  is  well  placed  to 
command  a  splendid  coasting  and  foreign  trade.  Our  view  from 
the  verandah  of  the  Hotel,  or  from  the  Government  House, 
perched  upon  the  mountain  in  the  rear  of  the  town,  is  most  pic- 
turesque. From  the  latter,  more  especially,  you  have  the  horse 
shoe  resembling  harbor,  where  the  ships  of  all  nations  and  every 
flag,  from  the  symmetrical  model  of  McKay  to  that  combina- 
tion of  the  ark,  the  Mississippi  flat,  the  old  fashioned  cotton  tub, 
and  the  Venetian  barge — a  Chinese  junk,  whieh  Captain  Kelly 
showed  the  now  traveling  citizens  of  New  York  for  the  first 
time  ;  and  occasioned  that  shrewd  remark  of  the  Widow  Par- 
tington,  "  That  more  money  would  be  made  by  taking  over  all 
China  at  once  than  bringing  it  in  'Junks.' "  You  also  have  the 
city  and  the  distant  mountain  range,  and  cultivated  hills  and 
plains — the  one  interspersed  with  irregular  buildings — winding 
rivers  made  into  canals  that  run  alongside  the  go-downs  to  re- 
ceive the  produce  into  the  flat  boats,  while  the  other  is  green 
with  nutmeg  and  spice  trees,  and  the  richest  beauties  of  the 
tropics. 

The  rides  about  the  city  are  most  delightful,  and  the  bamboo 
and  rattan  fence  fill  the  eye  with  beauty.  My  excursion  to 
Captain  Marshall's  beautiful  residence — near  the  magnificent 
buildings  erected  by  the  steam  company,  which  he  has  so  long 
been  connected  with — and  the  inspection  of  the  grounds  over 
which  fly  the  flag  of  the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  Company,  will 
not  hastily  be  forgotten.  Our  syces  drove  us  directly  through 
and  about  the  several  streets  of  the  town,  across  the  several 
bridges,  around  the  esplanade,  where  the  native  band  entertain 
the  elite  every  Saturday  afternoon  with  martial  music  ;  by  the 
several  go-downs,  over  to  the  Chinese  burial  ground,  so  singular- 


70  POPULATION,    NATIVE    AND    FOREIGN. 


ly  different  from  other  nations,  where  the  shape  of  the  graves 
resembled  the  Saxon  letter  U,  or  the  Omega  Jl,  of  the  Greek 
alphabet — passed  the  Malay  washing  ground,  where  these  dark 
beggars  tear  your  clothes  to  pieces,  under  the  plea  of  getting 
them  cleansed — we  are  arrived  at  the  steam  wharf,  which  five 
years  ago  was  a  marsh,  but  is  now  covered  with  the  most  capa- 
cious accommodations  which  this  company  possesses  this  side  of 
England.  The  coal  sheds  have  at  present  about  20,000  tons 
ready  for  use,  and  the  store  houses,  the  machine  shop,  the  sail 
loft,  the  cooking  rooms,  the  several  piers  and  the  large  amount 
of  ground  do  not  appear  to  have  cost  so  little  as  $80,000. 
These  extensive  buildings  were  needed  before  the  Company  gave 
up  the  Australian  contract — but  there  is  no  necessity  for  such 
an  expensive  establishment  for  the  monthly  mail  to  China — and 
it  is  a  question  of  doubt  if  they  ever  get  another  chance  at 
Australia. 

There  are  but  few  mercantile  houses  in  the  place,  and  those — 
some  twenty-five  or  thirty  in  all — have  been  established  for 
many  years,  and  most  of  which  are  doing  an  extensive  business. 
But,  for  a  wonder,  I  find  no  American  commission  house  managed 
by  Americans  !  Messrs.  Bousted  &  Co.,  have  a  large  Ameri- 
can trade,  and  manage  their  business  well.  An  outsider,  how- 
ever, would  find  it,  for  a  while,  up-hill  work  in  establishing  a 
house  where  all  the  old  firms  would  find  it  for  their  interest  to 
work  against  him. 

I  believe  that  the  European  population  will  not  exceed  three 
hundred  in  all,  but  there  are  quite  a  number  of  half-and-half, 
whose  color  plainly  shows  the  offspring  of  the  native  mother  and 
the  European  father.  At  Malacca,  the  Portuguese  and  Dutch 
have  married  and  intermarried  so  long  that  the  European  blood 
in  that  district  is  so  degenerated  as  almost  to  be  entirely  lost. 


A    CHINESE    MILLIONARE.  .  71 

I  presume  the  native  population  will  amount  to  about  80, 000, 
more  than  half  of  which  are  Chinamen,  while  all  Eastern  nations 
have  supplied  the  balance.  Bhudists,  Javanese,  Arabs  and 
Caffres,  Parsers,  Bengalese  and  Malays,  Klings  and  natives  of 
Madras,  all  mixed  up  together — all  pursuing  their  own  business 
— all  dressed  according  to  the  customs  of  their  country.  I  be- 
lieve that  seventeen  ancient  languages  and  ten  modern  tongues 
may  be  daily  heard  in  the  swarming  streets  of  Singapore,  to  say 
nothing  of  innumerable  dialects  branching  out  of  the  whole. 

Dr.  Yvan,  a  French  physician,  who  has  just  published  a 
rambling,  uninstructive  work  on  his  "  Travels  among  the 
Malays,"  says  the  Chinese  portion  of  the  town  is  noticed  by  its 
"  strong  appearance."  I  think  he  should  have  said  by  its  strong 
smell,  for  certainly  the  odor  is  most  offensive  to  those  not  accus- 
tomed to  it.  Many  of  the  Chinese  merchants  are  immensely 
wealthy.  Wampoa  is  the  millionaire  of  the  place,  and  has  a 
most  elegant  residence  out  of  town.  With  him  'tis  the  old  story 
— came  into  the  place  a  beggar,  and  has  walked  steadily  up  the 
ladder  of  wealth  till  his  riches  make  him  noted.  The  Malays 
bring  in  their  produce  and  sell  to  the  Chinamen,  and  the  China- 
men sells  to  the  merchants,  who  fills  the  orders  which  the  mail 
has  brought  him — a  continual  sale  and  barter  ;  no  brokers  can 
be  employed.  The  prahus  of  all  the  islands  round  about  are 
pouring  in  at  all  seasons,  but  the  Chinese  traders  come  annually 
about  Christmas  time,  and  then  such  an  excitement !  The 
junks  are  surrounded  by  hundreds  of  boats,  all  anxious  to  trade 
and  meet  their  friends  ;  but  the  new  comers  decline  to  sell  or 
talk  business,  till,  with  a  praiseworthy  trait  of  character,  ob- 
served for  ages,  they  have  visited  and  repaired  the  graves  of 
their  ancestors,  and  spent  a  few  hours  at  the  Joss  house  in 
prayer.  Singapore,  Penang  and  Malacca  are  the  dependen- 


72  MALAY    PIRATES. 


cies  over  which  Governor  Bluudel  (who  last  year  succeeded 
Governor  Butterworth,  who  was  eleven  years  in  office,)  presides. 
He,however,  takes  his  orders  from  the  Governor-General  of  In- 
dia, and  the  East  India  Company,  who,  I  am  told,  are  tired  of 
these  possessions,  as  they  are  only  an  expense,  and  would  gladly 
have  the  British  Government  take  them  off  their  hands. 

Ten  years  after  the  settlement,  the  export  and  import  trade 
amounted  to  $22,000,000  ;  but  seven  years  later,  (in  1836)  it 
fell  off  to  $14,000,000.  Now,  it  is  some  $50,000,000,  but  the 
State  statistics  are  two  years  in  the  background,  and  I  can't  be 
positive. 

For  a  long  time  in  early  years,  the  Americans  had  tne  cream 
of  the  native  trade  among  the  several  islands.  When  pirates 
infested  the  coast,  and  shot  out  from  every  point  upon  the 
unsuspicious  vessel,  no  nation  was  safe.  It  must  be  now  some 
thirty  years  since  the  Friendship,  of  Salem,  was  taken  by  the 
robbers,  and  even  as  late  as  1840  they  got  the  Eclipse.  The 
American  men-of-war  sent  out  at  that  time  to  blow  the  towns 
about  the  heads  of  the  robbers  may  have  done  some  good,  be- 
cause the  British  were  so  apathetic  in  those  days.  But,  as  a 
general  thing,  little  can  be  done  by  destroying  the  poor  fisher- 
men, when  the  princes  and  rajahs,  and  their  wealthy  friends  in- 
directly are  the  real  pirates,  who  fly  into  the  mountains  the 
moment  they  are  visited  by  a  salute.  How  long  is  it  since  a 
Rajah  on  the  Sumatra'  coast  took  a  fancy  to  the  wife  of  an 
English  captain,  who  foolishly  took  her  ashore,  and  carried  her 
away  to  his  Harem,  and  refused  to  give  her  up,  but  notified  the 
war  ship  and  her  husband  that  the  first  shot  fired  upon  the  vil- 
lage, would  be  the  signal  to  put  the  kris  through  the  body  of 
his  wife.  He  kept  his  word.  The  village  was  destroyed,  but 


AMERICAN    COMMERCE    IN  73 


the  first  shot  fired  drew  the  life  from  the  heart  of  his  wife. 
Romantic  and  true. 

Spanish  dollars  in  the  hands  of  the  enterprising  merchants  of 
Salem — who  entrusted  their  ventures  to  their  still  more  long- 
headed Captains,  whose  natural  habits  of  observation  and  tact 
for  so  long  a  time,  has  been  the  means  of  giving  America  so 
large  a  portion  of  this  trade — these  shipmasters  are  perfectly 
familiar  with  their  business,  know  foreign  markets,  understand 
supply  and  demand,  and  the  art  of  treating  with  the  natives, 
and  carry  in  their  head  the  whole  history  of  these  islands,  and 
the  ports  where  you  can  exchange,  or  buy  or  sell. 

Most  of  the  American  business  in  the  Indian  Islands  is  done 
with  "  documentary  bills,"  under  letters  of  credit  from  Brown, 
Shipley  &  Co.  and  Baring  Brothers  &  Co.  The  captain  or 
agent  draws  at  six  months'  sight  as  soon  as  his  cargo  has  been 
collected,  packed  up,  stowed  on  board,  and  bills  of  lading  signed, 
and  then  the  drafts  go  forward,  the  acceptors  secured  by  bill 
of  lading,  on  the  back  of  which  the  invoices  are  endorsed.  As 
the  mail  going  through  to  England  is  some  two  months,  the 
owners  of  the  cargo  have  the  benefit  of  an  eight  months'  credit, 
or  four  months  leeway,  after  the  arrival  of  the  property,  on  an 
average  passage  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  days— -thus  giving 
them  ample  time  to  dispose  of  it  and  realize  to  meet  the  bills. 
The  shrewd  financier,  in  this  way — provided  he  possesses  the 
credit  to  get  a  fair  start — -can  do  any  amount  of  business,  and 
make  or  lose  a  fortune  by  bold  speculations,  under  good  or 
bad  judgment. 

The  cargo  of  one  of  th,ese  voyages  comprise,  when  the 
articles  can  be  had,  all  the  products  of  the  East.  The  produc- 
tions most  adapted  to  the  American  trade  let  me  briefly  enu- 
merate, with  such  comments  as  strike  me  : — 


74  THE    INDIAN    AKCHIPELAGO. 


"COFFEE. — Bags  of  70  to  80  pounds  net,  garbled  and  picked 
over.  Bags  should  be  clean  and  strong,  and  care  must  be 
taken  about  sweating.  The  coffee,  when  collecting,  is  placed  in 
the-go-downs  to  dry.  Teas  that  come  down  from  China  at 
Christmas,  should  be  free  from  dust,  and  clean  leaf,  and  does 
well  often  when  neatly  put  up  in  papers.  Wild  cinnnamon, 
thin  quill,  well  cleared  from  the  extra  bark,  in  bales  of  100  Ibs.. 
covered  neatly  with  gunny  bags — such  packages  are  better  than 
boxes.  Dragon's  blood  sometimes  goes,  but  is  not  much  used 
with  us.  Buffalo  horns,  and  buffalo  and  cow  hides  are  frequently 
shipped — the  former,  however,  are  going  out  of  sale — as  gutta 
percha  and  India  rubber  are  now  extensively  used  for  combs. 
Heavy  horns  are  the  best,  but  in  any  case  these  things  are  too 
bulky,  except  for  dunnage  ;  sometimes  the  loss  in  weight  is  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  per  cent.  The  latter  article  must  be  bought 
low  to  pay.  The  light  horn  is  most  liked.  Cassia,  nutmegs 
and  cloves  are  usually  ordered.  Nutmegs  should  be  well  as- 
sorted and  carefully  picked  over,  as  is  the  case  with  coffee,  these 
sometimes  loose  three  per  cent  in  weight.  Zanzibar  can  beat 
these  islands  in  the  price  and  supply  of  cloves.  Pepper,  in  strong 
bags  of  good  quality.  Pearl  sago  and  flour  sago,  the  latter 
used  for  sizing.  Cubebs,  gum  benjamin,  gum  danmar,  tumeric 
and  stick  lacks,  are  also  among  the  drugs  and  dyestuffs — but 
will  not  pay  from  here  at  present  prices.  I  saw  yesterday  the 
way  they  pack  up  gambier,  another  article  largely  in  demand 
for  printing  and  tanning  purposes  with  us.  Instead  of  the  old 
fashioned  way  of  mats,  where  there  was  much  waste,  it  is  now 
passed  through  a  hydraulic  press,  which  screws  twenty  hundred 
weight  within  the  compass  of  forty  cubic  foot.  It  is  packed  in 
gunny  bags"  of  about  a  picul  each. 

Cutch  also  goes  forward  in  limited  quantities  for  coloring  and 


SIAil    AND    ITS    EXCLUSIYENESS.  75 


printing  purposes,  and  India  rubber  has  paid  well,  but  it  should 
be  well  selected  and  clean.  South  America,  however,  comes  in 
competition.  Tortoise  shell  would  do  if  the  West  Indies  don't 
feed  the  market ;  it  is  sometimes  re-shipped.  Tin  is  produced 
in  quantity,  and  has  sold  well  for  years  ;  but  Holland  is  always 
ready  to  supply  us  when  our  prices  are  very  high.  Gambouge 
is  in  limited  demand  in  the  American  trade,  and  cochineal  must 
.  be  very  cheap  to  compete  with  Mexico  or  Honduras.  Rattans 
and  deer  skins,  sugar  and  rice  are  among  other  articles  ;  but  the 
latter  can  be  beat  in  Carolina.  I  believe  I  have  run  through 
most  of  the  staples  or  productions  which  are  sold  in  the  Singa- 
pore and  Penang  market  for  the  American  trade.  The  Ameri- 
can business  is  all  in  the  hands  of  a  few — mostly  Eastern  men — 
but  a  few  ships  come  out  on  New  York  account. 

Singapore  must  eventually  be  the  greatest  commercial  empo-. 
rium  of  the  East — for  the  products  of  all  its  neighbors  are  pour- 
ed into  its  lap  ;  and  here  ships,  as  at  Anjer,  after  passing  round 
both  capes,  continually  meet.  When  we  note  the  present  com- 
merce of  the  port,  we  can  hardly  realise  that  about  the  close 
of  President  Monroe's  administration,  Singapore  was  only  the 
resort  of  a  few  Malay  fisherman. 

One  word  on  Siam,  ere  the  mail  bag  closes,  but  more  of  Sin- 
gapore hereafter. 

Like  Japan,  Siam  has  locked  her  outer  door  from  the  first,  and 
in  diplomacy  I  should  think  them  brothers.  They  have  many 
things  we  want,  and  we  have  something  for  them  to  buy  in 
return  ;  but  thus  far,  with  the  exception  of  their  connection  with 
the  East  India  Company,  what  has  been  done  ?  Even  the  com- 
pany treaties  have  been  a  burlesque.  But  now  it  is  said  Sir  John 
Bowring,  in  the  twelve  article  treaty  which  he  negotiated  during 
the  early  part  of  the  present  year,  has  done  the  handsome  thing 


76  EFFORTS    TO    OPEN    ITS   TRADE. 


for  England.  Perhaps  he  has  ;  but  when  I  remember  Mr  Roberts' 
celebrated  negotiation  for  the  United  States,  (I  thiuk  in  1833, 
which  was  the  means  of  completely  shutting  the  trade,  for  no 
American  ship  has  ever  loaded  there  since,)  was  a  total  failure. 
I  am  not  inclined  to  believe  that  the  British  governor  will  come 
out  any  better. 

Balestier,  as  American  Envoy,  tried  to  bring  them  over  in 
1850,  but  was  defeated  ;  and  Sir  J.  Brook  did  no  better  for 
England  when  he  was  sent  out  a  few  months  later.  The  British 
treaty  just  made  will  go  into  effect  in  April  forthcoming — which 
is  the  1,218th  year  of  the  Siamese  era — and  we  shall  then  see 
how  it  works.  I  should  like  to  go  up  with  the  new  ambassador, 
Mr.  Harris,  to  see  what  he  can  do  with  the  old  rajahs  for  the 
United  States,  but  as  he  has  not  arrived,  as  expected,  by  this 
boat,  I  must  give  it  up. 

J.  R.  Logan,  in  his  elaborate  journal  on  these  countries  com- 
piled from  authorities,  I  believe,  says  something  about  it,  but 
Earl's  work  gives  little  information. 

The  Westward  Ho,  Boston  clipper,  has  just  passed  Anjer  with 
800  Cooh'es  from  Swatow  to  Callao,  and  others  have  and  are 
continually  passing  with  their  living  freights.  The  days  of  the 
African  slave  trade  are  with  the  past,  save  what  the  Brazilian, 
and  Cuban  traders  may  be  engaged  in,  but  the  traffic  in  human 
life  is  not  wholly  abolished  when  we  see  English  coal  ships,  Pe- 
ruvian convict  hulks,  and  American  clippers,  all  heading  towards 
the  west  coast  of  South  America,  every  square  foot  of  space  occu- 
pied by  a  poor  devil  of  a  Chinaman,  who  thinks,  when  he  re'ceives 
a  dollar  in  hand,  to  be  spent  in  clothing,  and  makes  a  contract 
to  work  five  years  at  $8  per  month — by  paying  $50  for  a  passage, 
with  all  the  rice  they  want  guarantied — that  he  is  leaving  purg- 
atory for  paradise.  But  when  his  owner  puts  him  to  work  on  the 


HORRORS    OF    THE    COOLIE    TRAFFIC.  71 


guano  deposits,  under  the  burning  sun  of  the  Chinchas,  he  will 
find  out  how  sadly  he  has  been  deceived.  Read  that  horrible 
affair  of  the  Waverly,  Boston  ship,  at  Manilla — which  you  got 
by  the  last  mail.  It  makes  me  shudder  to  think  of  it,  and 
chills  my  very  blood  when  fancy  pictures  the  blackened,  swollen 
forms  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  human  beings,  the  one  piled  on 
the  other ;  worse  even  than  the  frozen  soldiers  of  Napoleon  on 
the  Niemen  and  at  Smolensk!,  or  the  startling  horrors  of  the 
Blackhole  of  Calcutta. 

Our  minister  to  China,  Dr.  Parker,  and  his  attache,  are  fellow 
passengers  with  me  to  Hong  Kong.  I  wonder  if  he  will  be  more 
fortunate  than  his  illustrious  predecessors  ? 


CHAPTEE    VII. 

LONDON  HOTEL,  SINGAPORE,  Dec.  21,  1855. 

More  About  the  Coolie  Trade — Numbers  of  American  Vessels  Engaged 
in  it — Statistical  History  of  the  Commerce  cf  Singapore — Colonial 
Budget  for  l853-'54 — The  Press  of  the  Island — Commercial  Notes, 
&c.,  &c. 

I  HAVE  just  mailed  four  packages  of  HERALD  correspodence, 
but  could  not  pay  the  postage  in  Singapore  ;  since  which  an 
American  captain  has  just  arrived  here,  with  passengers  from 
Swatow.  The  Otranto  of  San  Francisco,  left  that  port  on  the 
12th  instant,  having  made  a  fine  run  down,  with  a  favorable 
monsoon,  in  eight  days.  He  was  chartered  to  bring  down  sugar 
and  two  hundred  and  forty  Chinamen  (not  Coolies,)  and  Capt. 
Hays  has  given  me  a  glance  at  this  most  unchristian  trade,  and 
I  can  but  be  surprised,  in  these  modern  times,  to  notice  the  extent 
of  a  traffic  worse  than  the  slave  trade,  because  those  engaged  in 
it  give  it  another  name.  American  clippers  are  daily  leaving. 
The  Westward  Ho,  Hussy,  and  Bald  Eagle,  Capt.  Treadwell,  of 
Boston,  with  about  700  each,  have  left ;  the  former  to  Callao, 
the  latter  to  Havana.  The  Australia  and  Bona  Yen tura,( Chat- 
ham), with  400  each,  have  gone  to  Havana  ;  and  the  Amelia,  of 
Boston,  has  sailed  with  600  for  Callao,  while  the  War  Hawk,  a 
2,000  ton  clipper,  with  900,  was  loading  for  the  same  port ;  and 
the  Winged  Racer,  of  Boston,  Capt.  Gorham,  was  about  to  sail 


MORE  ABOUT  THE  COOLIE  TRADE.  79 


with  700  for  Havana  ;  and  several  more  ships  were  on  the  way 
under  charter.  This  will  show  yon  the  extent  of  this  modern 
freighting  business.  Messrs.  Tait.&  Co.  of  Swatow,  and  a  young 
American  by  the  name  of  Bradley,  who  is  connected  with  that 
house,  are  very  active  in  getting  off  the  ships,  under  Canton  and 
Hong  Kong  instructions — the  Peruvian  Consul  managing  a  por- 
tion of  the  contract  papers.  The  British  Government  forbid  that 
traffic  from  a  consular  port — but  Swatow  is  out  of  their  jurisdic- 
tion. This  port  offers  a  good  anchorage  inside  the  island  to  ship- 
ping, and  is  situate  on  the  river  Han.  Captain  Hays  says  the 
examination  of  the  passengers  on  board  the  junks  that  take  them 
off  to  the  ship  is  too  revolting  for  description — all  men  over 
thirty-five,  years  old,  or  after  they  have  been  stripped  stark 
naked  show  the  least  sign  of  disease  upon  their  persons  are  re- 
jected, and  these  poor  creatures,  brought  a  long  way  from  ihe 
interior  by  "crimps"  of  their  own  nation — who  get  $10  for 
bringing  down  all  of  what  they  term  healthy  cattle — are  turned 
ashore  to  perish  of  starvation  or  die  a  lingering  death  by  expo- 
sure. Great  numbers,  says  Captain  Hays,  are  seen  along  the 
beach  in  this  horrible  state.  Perhaps,  he  added,  they  are  far 
better  off  than  those  poor  wretches  who  have  been  led  to  sup- 
pose they  are  bound  to  the  golden  regions  of  California  or  Aus- 
tralia, or  some  pleasant  island  in  the  China  or  Indian  seas. 
The  moment  they  are  passed  and  get  on  board  the  ship,  they 
have  the  sulks  and  want  to  go  back  ;  but  no,  they  had  crossed 
the  Rubicon,  and  must  remain  in-  the  iron  bondage  of  Cuba  or 
South  America.  Captain  Gorhain,  of  the  Winged  Racer,  was 
very  much  alarmed  at  the  mutinous  state  of  his  cargo,  and 
flogged  some  sixty  passengers  one  morning.  When  mutiny  is 
among  them,  the  Captain  credits  only  the  interpreter,  or  the 
one  who  makes  the  fact  known.  This  man,  therefore,  has  the 


80  STATISTICAL    HISTORY    OF 


power  to  so  misrepresent  the  feeling  on  board  as  to  occasion 
strict  and  harsh  measures,  against  which  they  rise.  The  most 
danger  arises  before  they  pass-  the  land  ;  afterwards,  the  bound- 
less look  of  ocean  and  their  respect  for  navigation,  under  kind 
treatment,  will  usually  keep  them  in  their  place.  But  since  the 
affair  of  the  Waverly,  and  one  or  two  other  mutinous  ships,  the 
American  shipmaster  can  but  enter  upon  his  voyage  with  the 
liveliest  sense  of  danger. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Woods,  the  enterprising  editor 
of  the  Straits  Times,  I  am  able  to  add  a  statistical  page  to  my 
Singapore  correspondence,  which  your  East  Indian  Mercantile 
readers  will  find  interesting,  as  it  contains  the  entire  commercial 
transactions  of  the  colony  from  its  foundation  ;  also,  a  statement 
bearing  on  the  currency  question.  You  are  aware  that  the 
East  India  Company  are  desirous  of  introducing  the  rupee  and 
fraction  of  a  rupee,  instead  of  the  dollar  and  fraction  of  a  dollar. 
This  movement  meets  with  the  warmest  opposition  of  the  mer- 
chants of  Singapore,  and  the  statistics  which  I  now  add  were 
compiled  by  order  of  the  public  meeting  held  at  the  Singapore 
news-room  on  the  llth  of  August  last  past  ; — 

STATEMENT   OF   THE   GROSS    VALUE   OF    THE    IMPORTS    AND    EXPORTS    AT    SINGA 
PORE  AT    STATED  INTERVALS    DURING  THE    LAST  THIRTY-ONE  OFFICIAL    YEAFS. 

Years.  Imports.  Exports.  Grand  total. 

1825-26     . £1,407,465  1,202,975  2,610,440 

1830-31 2,000,373  1,948,406  3,948,784 

1835-36 1,654,089  1,562,864  3,216,953 

1840-41     . 3,178,543  2,678,381  5,851,924 

1845^6 2,895,227  2,356,872  5,252,099 

1850-51  .  .  .  ;«  >>;,4  .  .  3,085,587  2,551,700  5,637,287 

1854-55  ( 3,976,280  3,409,934  7,386,214 

AMOUNT   OF    THE   TRADE    BETWEEN     SINGAPORE    AND    COUNTRIES     WHERE    THE 
DOLLAR   AND   THE  RUPEE   ARE    RESPECTIVELY    CURRENT. 

The  dollar  is  current  in  the  following,  viz: — Borneo,  Celebes,  China, 


THE    COMMERCE    OF    SINGAPORE.  81 


Cocbin-Chhia,  Java,  Ehio,  and  islands  to  the  southward,  Kongpoot, 
Malay  Peninsula,  Manilla,  Siam,  Sumatra. 

The  rupee  is  current  in  the  following,  viz.: — Nicobars,  Pegu,  Rangoon, 
Arracan,  Calcutta,  and  coasts  of  Coromandel  and  Malabar. 

The  trade  between  Singapore  and  dollar  countries,  during  the  last 
three  years  was  as  follows  : — 

1851-52  1852-53  1853-54 

Imports,     ....     $6,838,540  7,458,875  9,649,060 

Exports,     ....       7,677,688  8,036,382  11,074,622 

Total         -  $14,516,228  15,495,257  20,723,682 

With  the  rupee  countries,  during  the  same  period,  it  has  been" thus : 

1851-52  1852-53  1853-54 

Imports,     ....     $3,395,525  3,540,992  4,927,382. 

Exports,     ....       1,991,623  1,951,016  2,297,215 

Total  ....    $5,387,148  5,48?  008  7,224,597 

The  treasure  imports  and  exports,  during  the  same  period  has  been 
as  follows : 

T 

From  the  dollar  countries, 

1851-52  1852-53  1853-54 

Imports, $1,449,197  1,293,263  1,712,862 

Exports,     , 1,311,698  3,857,622  4,628,308 

Total, $2,760,895  5,150,885  6,341,170 

From  the  rupee  countries, 

1851-52  1852-63  1853-54 

Imports, $32,485  16,558  883,092 

Exports, 982,871  1,047,819  789,407 

Total, $1,015,356  1,064,377  1,672,499 

The  foregoing  table  was  drawn  up  to  show  the  amount  of  trade  car- 
ried on  between  countries  where  the  dollar  and  rupee  were  respectively 
current  and  the  port  of  Singapore,  in  order  that  those  interested  in  the 
question  might  see  at  a  glance  the  preponderance  of  the  dollar,  as  a 
coin,  over  the  rupee,  in  the  dealings  with  the  natives  frequenting  that 
emporium,  and  to  prove  the  injudicious  policy  of  interfering  with  the 
currency  at  present  established. 


82  COLONIAL   BUDGET   FOR    1853-4. 

The  excess  of  trade  represented  by  the  dollar  countries  as  compared 
with  the  rupee  provinces  are  as  follows: — 

1851--52,     .     .     , $9,129,080 

1852-53, 10,003,249 

1853-54, 13,499,085 

The  transactions  in  treasure  are  also  in  favor  of  the  dollar,  and  show 
a  surplus,  as  follows : — 

1851-52, ,...'.....  $1,745,539 

1852-53,     ........ 4,086,508 

1853-54, 4,668,671 

I  also  enclosed  tables  prepared  by  the  same  authority,  giving 
fractional  parts  of  a  rupee,  and  of  the  new  copper  currency  at 
the  legal  rate  fixed  by  the  Company,  which  contains  too  many 
figures  for  copying. 

The  budget  of  the  fiscal  year  1853-'4  shows  £47,697  in- 
come, and  an  expenditure  of  £55,242,  which  gives  a  large  per 
centage  deficit.  I  certainly  cannot  see  why  the  Bengal  gov- 
ernment, for  such  a  trifling  amount,  should  wish  to  exchange 
the  currency  of  a  colony  that  for  thirty-six  years  has  worked 
admirably,  and  has  become  so  familiarized  to  the  225,000  per- 
sons, comprising  the  native  population  of  the  provinces,  the 
head  of  which,  under  the  East  India  Company,  is  Mr.  Blundel, 
the  Governor.  ', 

You  may  wish  a  note  of  the  newspaper  press  ;  let  me  write 
off  the  notes  which  I  have  made  : — * 

*  The  Singapore  Free  Press. — Editor,  Abraham  Logan.  Established 
1833.  Weekly.  Subscription,  $16  per  annum. 

Singapore  Straits  Times. — "Weekly.  Subscription,  $16  per  annum. 
Editor,  Robert  Carr  Woods,  who  established  it  in  1845,  and  still  owns 
and  conducts  it  Has  one  of  Adams'  (of  Boston)  power  presses,  also  one 
of  Orcutt's.  One  of  Hoe's  power  presses  on  its  way. 

The  Straits  Times  Express  for  Australia  is  got  up  at  the  Times  press: 
Price,  one  shilling  per  copy. 


PRESS    OF    THE    ISLAND.  83 


From  the  returns  made  to  the  Department  of  State  in  Janu-  . 
ary  and  August  of  the  present  year,  I  have  taken  a  few  memo- 
randa, by  permission  of  Charles  William  Bradley,  the  American 
Consul  at  Singapore,  whose  habits  of  study  and  literary  pursuits 
are  known  to  those  who  visit  this  part  of  the  world.  I  may 
mention  that  the  young  gentleman  mentioned  in  the  former  por- 
tion of  my  letter  as  being  engaged  with  others  in  despatching 
Coolie  ships  from  Swatow,  is  a  son  of  the  Consul ;  but  so  op- 
posed is  our  representative  to  this  abominable  traffic  he  has  re- 
fused to  correspond  with  him  for  over  a  year. 

The  Straits  Guardian. — Editor,  A.  Simonides.  "Weekly.  Subscrip- 
tion, $12  per  annum. 

The  free  Press  and  Guardian  are  printed  with  common  hand  presses. 

The  Straits  Times  press  establishment  comprise  letter  press,  copper- 
plate, and  lithographic  work  ;  bookbinding  in  all  its  branches;  and  has 
A  very  extensive  job  printing  business. 

The  workmen  consist  of  Hindoos,  Portuguese,  Chinese,  Malays,  Javan- 
ese and  Klings  (natives  of  the  Coromandel  coast)  and  it  is  most  remark- 
able to  see  how  well  they  do  their  work,  in  a  language  they  do  not 
understand. 

The  Singapore  News  Room,  as  it  is  called,  is  the  newspaper  file  room 
of  the  editor  of  the  Straits  Times.  The  room  is  a  large  one,  60  feet  by 
40,  and  contains  120  files  of  papers  from  all  parts  of  the  globe,  most  of 
them  exchanges,  where  I  luxuriated  on  a  complete  file  of  the  New  York 
Herald.  The  room  is  well  supplied  with  prices  current,  maps,  etc.,  and 
is  in  the  centre  of  the  commercial  part  of  the  town.  Officers  of  ships 
of  war,  commanders  of  merchant  vessels  and  strangers  (passengers)  free 
of  charge,  who  arrive  by  the  many  steamers  and  sailing  vessels  con- 
stantly passing  through  the  harbor.  Here  will  be  found  files  of  the 
Indian,  China  and  Australian  journals ;  also,  the  New  York  Shipping 
List  and  Price  Current,  Hunt's  Merchant's  Magazine,  which,  by  the 
way,  may  be  found  in  the  commercial  library  of  all  nations,  and  several 
San  Francisco  papers. 


84  -!  .  COMMERCIAL    NOTES. 


Memoranda  of  notes  from  the  State  papers,  some  of  which 
points  I  have  before  touched  on  : — * 

*  1.  Singapore  is  a  free  port;  there  are  no  other  charges  than  the 
Straits  Light  Dues,  which  are  one  anna,  or  2|  cents  per  registered  ton 
on  merchant  vessels.  All  national  ships  are  free  of  this  charge  also. 

2.  Merchants'  accounts  are  kept  only  in  dollars  and  cents ;  but  the 
government  offices  keep  their  books  only  in  rupees,  annas  and  pice. 

3.  Table  of  Moneys. — i  pice  make  1  cent;  2|  cents  1  anua  ;  16  annas 
1  rupee,  (R) ;  100,000  rupees  1  lac ;  100  lacs  1  crore. 

4.  Table  of  Weights. — Measures  of  capacity  are  rarely  used,  and  then 
only  with  certain  articles,  such  as  tobacco,  <fec.,  16  taels  make  1  catty, 
equal  to  1  lb.,  5  oz.,  5i  grs.,  or  lj  Ib.  avoirdupois;  100  catties  make  1 
(Chinese)  picul ;  equal  to  133|  Ibs.  avoirdupois ;  40  (Chinese)  piculs,  1 
royan ;  2  (Malay)  piculs  1  char.     The  Malay  catty  weighs  $24  Spanish, 
and  the  Chinese  catty  weighs  $22£  Spanish.     The  native  merchants 
buys  all  imported  produce  from  the  islands  by  the  Malay  picul,  but  sell 
it  by  the  Chinese  picul. 

Kice  is  sold  by  the  royan  of  40  piculs. 
Salt  by  the  same,  but  weighs  about  52  piculs. 
Gold  and  silver  thread  by  a  particular  catty  of  $36  weight. 
Gold  dust  by  the  bunkal,  which  weighs  $2,  equal  to  832  grs.  troy. 
Java  tobacco  is  sold  by  tfie  corge  of  40  baskets. 
Indian  piece  goods  by  the  corge  of  20  pieces. 

Wheat  and  grain  by  the  bag,  containing  2  Bengal  maunds — the 
maund  is  61  i  catties,  equal  to  82  Ibs.  avoirdupois. 

5.  Freights. — Ships  of  moderate  size,  say  from  300  to  500  tons  are 
most  in  demand  for  charters.     The  rates  at  which  foreign  bottoms  are 
freighted  or  chartered,  depend  on  the  demand  for  and  supply  of  ton- 
nage, the  sailing  qualities  of  the  vessel,  and  the  kind  of  cargo  to  be 
transported.     These  vary  so  greatly  that  it  is  impossible  to  give  them 
even  approximately. 

6.  Commissions. — The  ships  of  all  nations,  except  those  of  the  United 
States,  pay  a  uniform  commission  of  10  per  cent,  which  covers  all 
expenses  for  purchasing  or  selling.     For  "  the  American  trade,"  (U.  S.) 

the  usages  are  different,  and  are  as  follows : — 

Per  cent. 
Commissions  on  sales  of  goods  or  purchase  of  produce,  free  of 

risk,  either  in  sales  or  on  advances  on  produce,     ....  2i 


COMMERCIAL    NOTES.  85 


My  passage  ticket  from  Singapore  to  Shanghai,  in  the  Mad- 
ras, is  $234,  including  wines  and  spirits,  which,  by  the  way,  in 
this  case  are  expensive,  as  I  have  to  pay  for  what  I  never  take. 

My  board  bill  at  the  London  is  $3  per  day,  and  such  accom- 
modations ! 

I  hope  the  statistics  which  I  have  given  you — which  have 
cost  me  some  trouble  to  obtain — will  make  this  postscript  to  my 
Singapore  correspondence  interesting. 

(Both  these  are  guarantied  for  an  extra  2i  per  cent,  or  5  per  cent 

in  all.) 

Negotiating  bills  of  exchange, 1 

Interest  on  moneys  advanced,  at,  per  annum, 12 

Ships  disbursements, 2i 

Added  to  these  expenses  are  boat  and  Coolie  hire,  and  warehousing — • 
the  charges  for  which,  being  governed  by  circumstances,  differ  widely. 

7.  Sales  and  purchases. — Sales  of  imports  are  effected  in  the  usual 
manner,  by  private  arrangement  with  the  buyer.     Few  articles  of 
import  are  cleared  by  public  auction. 

Purchast  of  cargo  outward. — This  is  done  by  private  contract,  (never 
at  public  sales,)  by  the  house  to  which  the  master  of  the  vessel  is  con- 
signed ;  the  said  house  buying  the  goods  from  the  natives,  or,  more 
generally,  from  the  Chinese  dealers,  who  are  the  "  first  hands." 

Terms  of  purchase. — These  are,  first,  cash;  or  second,  confirmed 
credits  from  well  known  houses,  either  in  London  or  Liverpool. 

8.  Exchanges. — The  true  par  of  exchange  between  the  United  States 
and  this  port  cannot  be  determined.     The  most  just  approximation  is 
to  add  to  the  Singapore  rate  of  exchange  on  London  the  current  pre- 
mium of  New  York  drafts  on  London,  plus  2  a  4  per  cent 

9.  Wages. — With  regard  to  the  rate  of  wages  in  the  various  branches 
and  occupations  of  labor,  and  of  personal  service  in  the  business  of 
commerce  and  trade,  only  a  few  instances  can  be  specified : — 

Bookkeepers,  mercantile  assistants  or  clerks,  from  $500  to  $3,000  per 


Xr 

I 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

HONG  KONG,  Dec.,  31,  1855. 

Departure  from  Singapore — Steaming  in  the  Chinse  Seas — Pleasures 
of  Traveling  with  an  Opium  Cargo — Distinguished  Passengers — a  Man 
Overboard — Appearance  of  Hong  Kong — Volcanic  Aspect  of  the  Isl- 
and— Its  Political  History — Impolicy  of  the  Measures  Adopted  in  San 
Francisco  towards  Chinese  Emigrants — The  Lions  of  Hong  Kong,  <fec. 

MY  last  batch  of  letters  was  mailed  at  Singapore,  giving 
notes  on  that  island  of  the  English,  Siara,  Java  and  Japan,  and 
now  I  propose  to  take  you  with  me  to  and  about  Hong  Kong. 

The  Madras  steamed  out  on  the  afternoon  of  the  21st  of  De- 
cember, giving  us  a  fine  view  of  the  picturesque  harbor  of  Sing- 
apore, completely  locked  in  by  beautiful  highlands,  covered  with 
Indian  foliage  ;  and  in  ten  days  time  we  brought  our  boat  to  her 
anchorage  in  the  land  locked  harbor  of  Hong  Kong.  If  our  pas- 
sage up  is  a  fair  specimen,  these  head  monsoons  are  not  half 
as  formidable  as  I  have  always  supposed — any  one  who  has  en- 
countered the  fierce  northwesters  in  the  North  Atlantic,  in  a 
packet  ship  laden  with  iron  below  and  passengers  between  decks, 
in  mid-winter,  will  not  be  apt  to  complain  of  the  head  winds  of 
the  'China  seas — barring,  of  course,  that  much  dreaded  monster, 
a  typhoon,  whose  acquaintance  I  hope  I  shall  not  form  while 
crdising  in  these  waters.  I  believe  the  passage  has  been  made 
at  this  season  of  the  year  in  seven  days.  I  was  disquieted  to 


STEAMING  IN  THE  CHINESE  SEAS.  87 


find  that  the  agent  at  Bombay  had  filled  several  of  the  cabin 
state-rooms  with  opium,  which  accounted  for  the  passengers  all 
being  huddled  together  three  or  four  in  a  state-room.  My 
room  I  shared  with  two  others,  and  the  rest  were  no  better  off. 
But  what  is  the  use  of  complaining  ?  This  company  will  do  as 
they  please,  so  long  as  they  hold  the  monopoly.  Fifteen  dollars 
a  chest  for  opium  counts  up  when  you  can  get  a  full  manifest. 

By  the  by,  the  Hong  Kong  paper  in  anouncing  the  arrival  of 
our  Steamer,  satirically  observes — among  the  Passengers  were 
the  Lord  Bishop  of  Victoria  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Parker — also 
Twenty-five  hundred  chests,  of  opium. 

I  would  not  have  said  a  word  about  the  room  had  it  not  been 
for  the  sickening  smell  of  the  drug.     Go  where  you  would  you 
could  not  escape  its  stupefying  influence,  down  below  or  on  deck, 
in  your  state-room  or  at  the  dinner  table,  the  continual  nauseat- 
ing smell  of  opium  gave  you  the  headache  and  the  blues,  to  say 
nothing  of  keeping  your  eyes  half  closed  when  you  did  not  care 
to  sleep.     Every  boat,  from  the  first,  has  brought  more  or  less, 
and  having  the  trade  mostly  in  their  own  hands  they  care  little 
whether  passengers  are  pleased  or  not.    We  must  however,  admit 
we  are  much  indebted  to  this  enterprising  company  for  connect- 
ing the  European  with  the  Indian  and  China  seas  with  such  a 
splendid  list  of  steamers.     They  have  succeeded  admirably,  and 
.deserve  all  they  have  gained,  well  managed  in  every  respect  but 
filling  up  the  cabin  with  cargo,  an  objection  which  passengers  are 
apt  to  growl  at.     Our  table  was  most  creditable,  and  the  officers 
and  crew  did  their  work  in  man-of-war  style.    Lascars  and  Ma- 
nilla men,  but  few  Europeans  are  found  in  the  steamers  on  this 
side  the  line.  These  boats  do  not  carry  bands,  as  is  the  case  with 
the  Australian  clippers  under  mail  contract,  but  an  Indian  drum 
and  fife  gave  the  hour  for  meals,  instead  of  the  booming  of  a  gong. 


88  A    MAN    OVERBOARD. 

On  Sunday  the  Bishop  of  Victoria,  our  fellow  passenger  had 
services  on  board,  attended  by  most  of  us.  In  1847  he  published 
a  work  on  China,  which  was  well  prepared  for  the  mission  de- 
partment, and  from  what  I  have  read  it  is  a  work  of  merit. 

Save  the  falling  overboard  of  one  of  our  Indian  crew,  our  pas- 
sage was  void  of  incident ;  but  such  an  occurence  you  will  readily 
suppose  occasioned  much  excitement.  I  heard  a  splash  in  the 
water — a  most  unearthly  yell — and  the  black  head  of  the  sailor 
was  floating  some  rods  astern,  for  our  boat  was  moving  ten  knots 
through  the  water  ;  to  throw  overboard  a  life  buoy,  a  settee  and 
the  log  line  reel,  was  the  work  of  an  instant,  and  then  came,  stop 
her,  and  the  lowering  of  the  ship's  boat ;  all  was  in  the  most 
perfect  order,  yet  the  screeching  of  the  Lascars  was  wild  in  the 
extreme.  Before  the  boat  got  under  way  the  man's  head  could 
be  only  seen  with  the  spyglass,  and  men  were  stationed  in  the 
rigging  so  as  not  to  lose  sight  of  him.  After  an  hour's  delay  and 
all  on  the  alert  to  save  the  live  of  a  fellow  creature,  although 
his  nation  and  his  skin  were  not  our  own  every  one  of  us  on  the 
tiptoe  of  excitement,  the  boat  returned  to  the  ship  with  the 
welcome  news  that  life  was  still  left,  and  the  poor  fellow  jumped 
upon  the  deck  with  an  alacrity  that  spoke  of  gratitude  and  thank- 
fulness. Such  events  create  no  little  stir  and  noise  on  shipboard, 
and  are  always  journalized  as  one  of  the  changes  of  the  traveler. 
Approaching  the  islands  near  Hong  Kong,  the  fishing  boats  be- 
gan to  heave  in  sight,  and  before  we  got  in  we  saw  great  num- 
ber, always  two  in  company,  with  a  drag-net  between  them.  I 
am  surprised  that  these  boats  are  not  oftener  run  down  at  sea, 
for  like  mosquitoes,  they  cannot  be  numbered. 

After  leaving  the  garden  land  of  Java,  where  all  nature  keeps 
an  everlasting  holiday,  of  never  ceasing  foliage  and  flowers,  the 
high  mountainous  scenery  of  the  islands  chills  one  with  its  contin- 


APPEARANCE    OF    HONG    KONG.  89 


ual  sameness.  The  season  of  the  year  may  give  it  its  present  som- 
bre look,  but  certainly  the  barren  hills  and  uncultivated,  uninter- 
esting appearance  of  the  approaches  to  Hong  Kong  do  not  by 
any  means  prepare  the  stranger  for  the  agreeable  surprise  that 
awaits  him  as  he  passes  Green  Island  and  finds  himself  directly 
before  the  town,  made  most  interesting  by  its  strikingly  original 
and  novel  appearence.  Resembling  a  half-circle  the  buildings 
stretch  out  some  four  or  five  miles  on  either  side  of  the  bay,  going 
back  from  the  water's  edge  as  far  as  the  mountains  will  admit, 
one  building  above  the  other  ;  but  those  at  the  base  of  the  moun- 
tains have  a  most  commanding  view  of  the  entire  bay,  covering 
quite  a  fleet  of  shipping,  including  at  the  present  time  several 
men-ofwar,  and  entirely  overlook  the  several  European  buildings, 
and  the  thousand  and  more  Chinese  tenements  of  the  town,  while 
the  long  range  of  hills,  extending  far  away  on  both  sides,  though 
rock  and  sand  abound,  add  interest  to  the  picture.  The  place 
is  easily  sketched,  and  the  Chinamen  have  made  several  good 
pictures  of  it. 

Some  of  the  hills  do  not  look  unlike  the  auriferous  lands  on  the 
Balarat,  and  evidently  have  more  or  less  gold  beneath  their  sur- 
face. Looking  out  from  the  palace  residence  of  mine  host  who 
although  young  in  years  ranks  among  the  leaders  of  the  China 
trade  which  stands  on  the  highest  building  land  in  the  place,  the 
bay  seems  entirely  land-locked,  and  in  going  out  and  coming  in 
the  town  springs  up  before  you  directly  behind  the  island  which 
you  pass,  while  the  mountains  back  of  the  house  show  up  with 
fearful  height,  although  the  highest  peak  is  but  1,825  feet. 
The  whole  appearance  of  the  country  thus  far  has  a  volcanic 
appearance,  and  if  more  foliage  was  scattered  along  its  sur- 
face, some  of  the  Australian  coast  scenery  strongly  would  resem- 
ble it.  Hong  Kong  unmistakably  bears  the  mark  of  progress, 


90  ITS    POLITICAL    HISTORY. 


and  the  traveler  in  overhauling  its  history  is  surprised  to  find  that 
sixteen  years  only  ago  it  was  nothing  but  a  miserable  fishing  vil- 
lage, where  a  few  poor  natives,  with  their  nets,  and  tillage  of  the 
soil,  found  scanty  sustenance.  These  seas,  on  every  side,  are  full  of 
such  islands,  most  of  which  are  studded  with  little  smoky  unin- 
viting dwellings,  many  of  which  are  the  resort  of  pirates,  who  are 
ready  to  pounce  down  on  any  unfortunate  craft  that  may  get  dis- 
abled near  their  rendezvous.  The  island  was  ceded  to  the  Eng- 
lish in  1841,  Kichan  acting  for  the  Emperor,  and  Elliot  for  the 
Queen  ;  but  through  the  wirepulling  of  Kichan's  rival  at  the  im- 
perial court  Commissioner  Lin,  the  negotiations  were  thrown  up, 
and  Kichan  was  disgraced.  This  high  officer  was  a  man  of  great 
talent,  and  although  he  never  recovered  the  good  will  of  his  mas- 
ter and  his  cabinet,  his  abilities  were  found  of  utility,  and  he 
was  sent  to  the  capital  of  Thibet  Lhassa  where  Moorcroft,  the 
celebrated  English  traveler,  lived  for  so  many  years,  and  to 
whose  talent  and  industry  we  are  indebted  for  the  very  able 
charts  of  the  country  thereabout. 

Kitchan,  Hue  says  was  a  fine  looking  man,  about  60  years  of 
age,  and  in  the  interviews  with  him  at  the  court,  before  he  was 
banished  from  Tartary,  he  seemed  to  feel  much  soured  about  his 
treatment  regarding  the  treaty,  and  showed  much  interest  in 
talking  of  the  Western  nations.  Fear  of  the  white  man,  and 
recollection  of  his  past  disgrace,  no  doubt,  was  the  cause  of  his 
treatment  to  the  Catholic  missionary  who  has  given  us  such  a 
romantic  and  highly  interesting  account  of  his  return  directly 
through  the  empire.  The  war  it  will  be  remembered,  which  had 
been  smoldering  since  the  violent  proceedings  of  1834,  which  hast- 
ened Lord  Napier's  death,  broke  out  with  energy  in  1829,  when 
the  seizure  of  opium  belonged  to  British  merchants,  some  23,283 
chests,  which  Lin  destroyed  with  quick  lime,  and  the  insulting 


DESCRIPTION    OF    HONG    KONG.  91 


way  with  which  he  treated  the  merchants,  caused  the  great  des- 
truction of  human  life,  the  knocking  down  of  all  their  coast  forts 
and  the  final  treaty  of  Nankin,  which  opened  up  the  Cinque  Ports, 
and  again  gave  the  English  Hong  Kong  ;  and  once  getting  a 
foot-hold,  in  spite  of  all  obstacles  of  position  and  climate,  with 
that  indomitable  perseverance  which  characterizes  the  Anglo 
Saxon  race.  The  English  have  changed  the  Lilliputian  fishing 
town  to  another  Singapore  ;  for  there  are  about  the  same  number 
of  Chinamen  and  orientals  at  each  port.  The  fifteen  hundred 
poverty  stricken  men  of  1840  have  grown  to  sixty  or  seventy 
thousand  ;  and  now  many  of  the  better  class  of  Chinamen  are 
beginning  to  invest  their  capital,  and  have  a  branch  establish- 
ment at  this  port,  although  Canton  is  still  the  favorite  place, 
owing  to  long  established  custom,  for  the  Chinese  merchant.  In 
1845  there  were  but  25,000,  and  ten  years  hence  I  should  not 
be  surprised  to  find  a  population  of  250,000  Chinamen. 

The  island  is  twenty-six  miles  in  circumference,  nine  miles  long 
and  eight  broad  ;  and  Victoria,  the  colony  township,  branches 
off  to  the  right  and  left  about  three  miles  each  way  ;  and  as  the 
buildings  increase  it  must  still  continue  to  add  to  its  present  Boo- 
merang shape,  for  there  is  no  back  ground  to  build  upon,  for  the 
mountains  overhang  the  city  in  such  frightful  proximity  that  one 
is  inclined  to  mistrust  Newton's  theory  of  gravitation.  The  shock 
of  an  earthquake,  excessive  heat  or  cold,  a ,  heavy  freshet,  or 
some  natural  convulsion  or  other,  would  be  apt  to  occasion  a  land 
slide  that  would  somewhat  astonish  the  residents  below,  whose 
only  chance  would  be  in  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  on  the  fall- 
ing rocks  leaping  over  their  heads  on  to  the  shipping  of  the  bay. 
Notwithstanding  my  friends  laughed  at  me  for  the  suggestion, 
in  such  an  event  as  I  have  mentioned  I  had  just  as  live  be  any- 
where else  just  at  that  particular  time.  Robert  Elmes,  who  pub- 


92  IMPOLICY    OF   THE    MEASURES 


lished  a  work  of  foreign  travel,  in  1853,  says  very  truly,  that 
Hong  Kong  is  no  more  China  than  Gibraltar  is  Spain,  but,  like 
the  European  rock,  is  a  sort  of  oasis  of  English  houses  and  cus- 
toms in  the  midst  of  semi-barbarism.  I  would  sooner  see  a  re- 
semblance in  Singapore,  and  call  it  the  Liverpool  of  China,  where 
ships  and  steamers  are  contiually  anchoring,  placing  a  large  float- 
ing population  in  the  place,  and  the  grand  centre  of  all  the  ports 
of  this  part  of  the  world,  visited  by  many  whalemen  and  men-of- 
war,  of  all  nations,  and  the  resort  of  most  ships  seeking  freights, 
and  in  still  stranger  likeness  on  accouut  of  its  being  the  centre 
.  of  emigration,  and  must  so  continue— all  the  passenger  ships  to 
Australia  and  California  headed  from  this  port,  and  as  soon  as 
those  countries  remove  the  hasty  and  injudicious  tax  which  the 
astute  legislators  of  the  gold  regions  placed  upon  the  Celestials, 
— an  error  which  they  will  soon  be  taught  to  see  before  many 
months  pass  round,  Hong  Kong,  (the  island  of  fragrant  streams, 
as  the  natives  term  it  in  their  beautiful  descriptive  language, ) 
'will  once  again  shoot  ahead  with  a  velocity  that  may  natu- 
rally surprise  some  of  her  Northern  neighbors. 

I  can  imagine  nothing  more  unwise,  just  at  this  particular 
time,  when  both  England  and  America  are  desirous  of  getting 
a  firmer  foot-hold  with  this  wonderful  people,  whose  industry 
puts  to  shame  many  of  the  Western  countries,  than  the  thought- 
less hurrying  through  of  the  restrictive,  or  rather  say  the  pro- 
hibitory bills  relating  to  the  Chinese,  which  went  into  operation 
both  in  Melbourne  and  San  Erancisco  last  year.  From  what  I 
can  observe,  the  only  way  to  make  a  favorable  impression  is  by 
Bimply  doing  what  we  force  them  to  do — namely,  open  our  doors 
to  their  industry  and  give  them  a  chance  to  note  our  mode  of 
life  upon  our  own  soil, -as  we  do  theirs.  I  cannot  understand 
with  what  degree  of  reason  we  urge  them  to  more  liberal  com- 


ADOPTED    IN  'SAN    FRANCISCO.  93 


mercial  regulations,  when  our  example  shows  a  dog  in  the  man- 
ger surliness  worthy  of  a  more  barbarous  age.  Under  the 
belief  that  the  law  is  unconstitutional,  several  ships  are  heading 
towards  San  Francisco  to  test  the  law — and  some  ten  or 
twelve  vessels  are  now  up  for  Adelaide,  the  passengers  of  which 
are  all  bound  overland,  and  across  the  border  to  the  gold  fields 
of  Victoria  ;  one  colony  receiving  an  extensive  trade  in  ships' 
disbursements  and  passenger  outfits  ;  what  the  other  in  a  mo- 
ment of  short-sighted  legislation  has  lost.  The  only  way  now 
for  both  Eldorados  is  to  repeal  the  restrictive  act — open  wide 
the  door  to  the  hard  working  Chinaman,  and  pass  some  healthy 
regulations  for  their  guidance  when  they  arrive  in  great  num- 
bers, which  would  not  only  keep  them  from  interfering  with  the 
white  man's  labor,  but  would  be  also  protection  for  them. 
There  are  thousands  upon  thousands  ready  to  embark,  but  hesi- 
tate on  hearing  of  the  way  in  which  their  countrymen  have  been 
treated  in  California.  Ship  after  ship  has  lately  come  in  from 
Australia,  with  those  who  have  become  suddenly  rich — for  even 
a  few  ounces  is  a  gold  mine  with  a  people  who  use  a  coin  contain- 
ing some  sixteen  hundred  pieces  to  a  dollar.  Such  an  arrival 
creates  great  excitement  in  a  Chinese  town,  and  as  it  was  with 
us  in  the  inland  cities,  when  a  successful  Californian  returned — 
a  half  thousand  were  sure  to  take  his  place.  I  cannot  see  any 
harm  in  allowing  them  full  range,  for  it  is  well  known  that  a 
few  white  men  will  keep  down  any  number  of  Chinese.  Look  at 
Java  and  Singapore,  and  even  at  Hong  Kong.  Why,  the  mer- 
chants here  would  scout  the  yery  idea  of  danger  if  there  were  a 
thousand  times  the  population.  I  wish  you  would  take  up  the 
question  with  a  few  of  your  bold  editorial  remarks,  and  deal 
with  it  upon  its  merits.  It  is  a  most  important  subject,  and 
deserves  more  attention  than  it  has  received — and  if  the  Herald 


94  PROMINENT    BUILDINGS. 


will  take  it  by  the  hand  and  look  over  the  facts  in  the  case,  a 
change  will  be  brought  round  that  will  do  more  for  the  Chinese 
and  the  shipping  world,  than  all  the  treaties  and  commissioners 
which  could  be  stowed  away  in  a  man-of-war. 

The  government  of  Hong  Kong  is  not  very  complicated,  con- 
sisting only  of  the  Governor,  Sir  John  Bowriug,  the  Lieutenant 
Governor,  Chief  Justice,  and  Council  of  five.  The  Governor,  I 
believe,  is  also  head  of  the  entire  official  staff  in  China,  being 
Superintendent  of  the  British  trade  at  the  Cinque  Ports — thus 
having  full  control  over  British  subjects  and  British  ships  in 
the  China  seas.  The  present  Governor  and  Dr.  Parker  seem 
to  be  inclined  to  pull  together  in  opening  up,  if  possible,  a  more 
enlarged  commerce  with  this  conservative  people. 

The  city  has  a  most  uneven  look — one  house  above  the  other, 
and  some  of  the  streets  running  up  the  mountain  are  very  steep, 
and  make  the  Coolies  tug  and  pull  till  they  are  glad  to  put  down 
their  chair  when  at  their  journey's  end.  Some  of  the  buildings 
are  well  made  and  elegantly  furnished,  the  merchants  living  at 
their  ease,  all  apparently  enjoying  this  world's  goods.  Many  of 
the  Canton  houses  have  lately  established  a  branch  here,  on 
account  of  the  rebellion  throwing  a  damper  over  that  province, 
and  also  to  take  their  chance  at  the  Chinese  exodus,  some  of  the 
charters  having  paid  splendidly.  The  most  prominent  buildings 
which  I  noted  were  the  Government  House,  the  Bishop's  College, 
where  his  lordship  has  a  Chinese  school,  a  Chinese  chapel  and 
a  Chinese  printing  office,  and  as  I  passed  through  he  showed  me 
a  noble  little  Chinese  boy — his  namesake  and  godson.  Many  of 
the  children  were  most  intelligent  in  their  features,  and  when  the 
Bishop  came  into  the  room  all  rose  with  marked  respect  from 
their  lessons. 

The  buildings  of  the  several  school  and  mission  societies,  the 


THE    CLUB    HOUSES.  95 


hospital,  the  church  and  the  club,  together  with  many  of  the 
merchants'  princely  establishments,  are  the  most  prominent  ob- 
jects as  you  look  from  the  bay.  All  China  among  foreigners, 
are  looking  forward  to  the  races  on  the  19th,  and  the  Arab  and 
Australian  horses  are  being  trained  to  win  the  cup.  Happy 
Valley,  I  believe,  the  Chinese  have  named  the  ground.  East 
Poiut  is  a  most  beautiful  place,  and  I  was  much  pleased  with 
the  urbanity  of  the  princely  merchants  there,  who  seem  to  be 
entirely  by  themselves,  all  the  other  buildings  being  a  long  way 
this  side.  Even  Spring  Gardens  is  quite  a  walk,  but  well  re- 
pays you  for  going  down  on  that  side  of  the  bay  ;  small  patent 
slips  and  projecting  piers — some  of  stone,  others  of  bamboo  ;  a 
good  government  road  for  some  way  round  the  island  ;  well 
cleaned  streets,  two  of  which  run  horizontally  through  the  town. 
On  the  Western  Point  you  will  find  the  military  establishments, 
the  barracks  and  storehouses,  all  showing  comfort  and  conveni- 
ence and  military  superintendence.  Quite  a  large  population 
live  in  their  boats  in  the  bay — men,  women  and  children — an 
entire  family  crowded  together  in  a  pile  at  the  end  of  the  boat. 
These  boats  are  always  ready  to  take  you  off  from  the  ship  for 
a  litle  cash,  but  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  is  a  good  day's  work  for  a 
family  that  can  live  on  a  bowl  of  rice. 

The  club  house  is  most  creditable  to  the  place,  and  the  stranger 
not  caring  for*  the  hotel  is  most  comforably  off  if  introduced  by 

• 

any  of  his  friends  who  may  be  members.  A  good  library  and 
all  the  English  periodicals  are  on  the  tables  and  in  the  book  case ; 
and  good  chow  chow,  good  beds  and  good  attendance  can  be 
purchased  for  about  $3  per  day  ;  but  in  China  most  gentlemen 
are  immediately  taken  possession  of  by  those  who  may  be  known 
to  them,  and  then,  of  course,  you  make  their  house  your  home. 
Not  to  have  a  spare  bed  or  two  for  the  new  comer  would  be 


96  HONG    KONG    CRIES. 



- 


considered  contrary  to  the  established  usage  of  the  land.  You 
cannot  but  feel  the  greatest  possible  interest  to  witness  the  un- 
tiring industry  of  this  race  so  little  known  among  Western  na- 
tions. Women  and  men,  and  sometimes  even  little  children,  are 
hard  at  work  making  combs,  trunks  or  shoes,  some  chopping  up 
meat,  others  arranging  their  vegetables  ;  now  a  party  of  masons 
erecting  a  bamboo  stage,  and  then  a  chain  gang  grading  the 
hill  under  the  point  of  the  Hindostanee  soldier's  bayonet  ;  coo- 
lies carrying  water,  an  enormous  load  ;  sedan  chairs  borne  by 
two  or  four  ;  boys  hawking  about  candies  and  sweetmeats  ;  boat- 
men and  house  servants  coming  and  going,  all  dressed  in  that 
pecular  national  blue,  wide  trowsers  and  Blucher  jacket,  and 
their  long  tail  either  wound  about  their  head  or  trailing  down 
behind.  The  streets  of  Hong  Kong  offer  a  thousand  reflections 
to  those  who  have  never  been  thrown  in  contact  with  the  Ce- 
lestial race. 


CHAPTER    IX 

CANTON,  Jan.  4,  1856. 

First  Impressions  of  Canton — The  Boatwomen  of  the  Port — Chinese  Bloo- 
mers— New  Year's  Calls — The  Lions — The  Clubs — Chinese  Lingo — 
Political  Restraints — Commerce  of  Canton — The  Parsees  of  the  Fac- 
tories, <fcc. 

ANOTHER  port  has  been  struck  off  my  visiting  list,  for  I  have 
sent  you  my  impressions  of  Hong  Kong,  and  for  the  last  few  days 
have  been  roaming  about  this  highly  interesting  place,  the  ne  plus 
ultra  of  my  early  ideas  of  the  East.  Leaving  Hong  Kong  in 
one  of  the  several  steamers  that  daily  ply  up  and  down  the  river, 
ten  hours  good  work  carried  us  by  the  Bogue  forts,  whose  for- 
midable front  looked  grim  death  to  the  intruder,  but  which,  not- 
withstanding, were  knocked  about  the  guards'  heads  and  ears 
when  the  English  turned  their  shot  towards  them  ;  by  the  sev- 
eral pagodas,  reaching  high  in  air  ;  by  the  legion  of  boats,  and 
barren  mountains  and  hills,  but  cultivated  valleys,  on  the  river's 
banks  ;  by  the  rice  fields,  the  lichee  groves  and  the  banyan  forest ; 
by  the  Wampoa  reach,  the  shipping,  the  well  arranged  docks, 
and  the  few  foreign  houses  there ;  by  the  countless  junks  and 
lorchas,  and  vessels  of  every  possible  shape  and  rig — odd  and 
strangely  picturesque — till  the  factories  burst  upon  us  from  be- 
hind the  garden  forest  trees,  where  the  English,  the  French  and 


98  CANTON    BOAT-WOMKX. 


the  American  flags  were  floating  side  by  side  in  the  most  friendly 
and  neighborly  manner,  as  they  should  always  do. 

At  last  I  am  in  sight  of  Canton,  the  grand  capital  of  China 
trade,  where  heads  of  houses  most  do  congregate — where  money 
is  obtained  from  wealthy  Chinamen,  middle-men,  brokers,  &c., 
who  get  it  from  bankers  in  the  interior — where  orders  are  given 
to  the  houses  and  agents  up  and  down  the  coast  where  wires  are 
pulled — secret  expeditions  fitted  out — teas  and  silks  and  imports 
are  talked  on  an  extensive  scale — where  so  many  merchants  have 
made  in  a  few  years  of  active  labor  fortunes  in  the  trade,  and 
where  hospitality  abounds  and  kind  attentions  are  showered 
upon  the  stranger.  Yes,  this  far-famed  Canton,  known  to  every 
school-boy,  and  every  young  merchant  who  ever  learned  to  talk 
ship — Canton,  the  centre  of  all  Eastern  exchange,  the  grand 
bourse  of  Chinese  Asia. 

The  cabmen  of  Albany — the  hack  drivers  of  Montreal— the 
kling  boatmen  of  Singapore,  must  retire  in  favor  of  the  boatwo- 
men  that  came  near  smothering  our  boat  in  order  to  get  .a  fare 
to  the  pier  ;  such  an  infernal  yelling  and  jabbering,  pulling  and 
hauling,  rowing  and  sculling,  screeching  and  gesticulating,  can  be 
found  no  where  else.  Why,  it  is  enough  to  drive  one  into  a  lu- 
natic asylum.  It  ought  not  to  be  tolerated,  for  sometimes  it  is  pos- 
itively dangerous  when  the  tide  is  running  a  perfect  sluice.  Some 
of  the  women  are  very  comely,  and  in  their  peculiar  Bloomer 
costume  and  strikingly  original  style  of  head  dress,  you  can  but 
be  attracted.  As  in  Hong  Kong,  twenty-five  cents  is  all  they 
expect  for  rowing  ashore  a  boat  load.  After  paying  in  some 
cases  from  $10  to  $15  in  Melbourne,  I  really  felt  ashamed  to  give 
the  girls  here  so  little  ;  but  I  was  cautioned  against  introducing 
bad  habits  by  giving  them  more.  These  poor  creatures  live  en- 
tirely upon  the  river,  and  how  I  cannot  tell,  for  in  the  vicinity 


THE    CLUBS    OF    CANTON.  99 


of  Canton  there  must  be  at  least  from  50,000  to  60,000.  A 
typhoon  or  a  fire,  I  should  think,  would  completely  sweep  them 
away,  for  they  lie  huddled  together  like  so  much  firewood. 

Arriving  on  New  Year's  morning  I  was  most  fortunate  ;  for, 
in  accordance  with  our  time-honored  custom,  calls  were  being 
exchanged,  and  I  was  just  in  time  to  pay  my  respects  and  wish 
the  pleasent  returns  of  the  year  to  the  eighteen  European,  En- 
glish and  American  ladies  then  in  Canton,  whose  cordial  wel- 
come is  most  pleasant  to  remember.  Beautiful  houses,  large 
and  commodious,  all  joined  together,  or  only  separated  by  a  small 
alley-way  splendidly  furnished,  and  none  without  engravings  or 
pictures  ;  fancy  Chinese  ornaments,  and  specimens  of  every  kind 
of  Chinese  ingenuity  met  your  gaze,  and  every  thing  seemed  fresh 
and  new  to  me — all  different  from  the  Western  world.  The  new 
comer  delivers  his  letters,  and  calls  upon  those  whose  acquaint- 
ance he  wishes  to  make  ;  and  then,  if  properly  introduced, 
come  attentions  on  every  side.  My  home  is  delightful  and  my 
kind  entertainer  makes  me  feel  that  during  my  stay  in  Canton 
his  house  is  mine.  He  has  done  a  large  business  in  his  day  and 
I  think  him  one  of  the  most  industrious  men  I  ever  saw.  Break- 
fasting, tiffing,  dining,  excursion  parties  to  the  White  hills,  to 
the  Honan  temple-,  the  Parsee  gardens,  the  curiosity  shops,  mu- 
sic in  the  evening,  or  bowls,  or  billiards,  or  books,  or  papers — 
you  may  take  your  choice  ;  but  your  time  will  soon  fly  away 
among  a  people  who  only  try  to  anticipate  your  wants  and  plea- 
sure. The  billiard  room  and  bowling  alley  are  private  clubs, 
well  managed  and  well  attended  ;  good  tools  to  work  with  and 
Chinese  markers.  At  the  reading  room  you  may  find  books  and 
papers,  and  all  the  printed  gossip  of  the  day,  as  at  the  Hong 
Kong  Club.  You  can  soon  do  up  the  lions  of  the  place,  after 
you  have  gone  round  the  walls  of  Canton  and  run  the  risk  of 


100  CHINESE    PAGODA. 


getting  your  nose  punched  by  a  bamboo  for  your  boldness  in 
looking  in  the  gate.  After  you  have  looked  into  the  shops  in  old 
and  new  China  streets,  walked  round  the  factory  garden,  where 
foreigners  are  allowed  the  entire  space  of  about  800  feet  in 
length  by  120  deep,  for  trees  and  plants,  a  church,  a  lodge  and 
benches,  and  paths,  for  public  promenade  and  nothing  more,  and 
you  have  been  once  all  round  to  see  whom  you  may  know,  and 
in  one  weeks'  time  most  likely  you  know  them  all,  for  knowing 
one  it  secures  the  entree  to  the  rest.  After  you  have  been  through 
the  hongs,  and  go-downs  seen  the  tea  prepared  for  shipment,  and 
the  way  it  is  got  up,  and  talked  with  some  of  the  Chinese  mer- 
chants who  insist  upon  your  taking  with  them  a  cup  of  tea  with- 
out milk  or  sugar,  the  grounds  in  the  cups,  each  made  expressly 
for  each  person ;  after  you  have  chin-chinned  several  of  these 
Hong  merchants  and  heard  them  expound  commercial  affairs  ; 
after  you  have  been  over  the  Dutch  Folly,  the  pavilion  of  the  fire 
genii,  the  Lyre  pagoda  at  Whampoa  ;  the  wonderful  gardens — 
wonderful  because  so  singular  and  novel  ;  after  you  have  seen 
the  duck-hatching  up  the  river,  where  the  young  ducks  are  tra- 
ced in  all  their  stages  ;  after  you  have  been  to  the  White  hills 
on  your  Chinese  pony,  or  carried  up  by  your  Chinese  coolie,  in 
your  Chinese  chair,  and  looked  down  upon  the  city  of  Canton, 
with  its  124  temples  and  halls,  pavilions  and  pagodas  ;  after 
you  have  perfectly  satisfied  your  curiosity  by  looking  at  the 
flower  boats  and  gazing  at  the  beautiful  specimen  of  Chinese 
frailty  so  fantastically  dressed  ;  after  you  have  seen  all  these, 
you  will  have  a  right  to  say  that  you  have  killed  all  the  lions  of 
Canton.  It  takes  but  a  short  time  to  run  through  the  list,  and 
when  once  seen  it  is  time  to  go  over  the  ground  a  second 
time. 
The  city  of  Canton  is  about  one  thousand  years  old,  but  no 


CHINESE   LINGO.  101 


foreigners  have  ever  had  the  entree  to  its  enterior.  Notwith- 
standing the  treaty  provides  for  going  into  Canton,  by  diplo- 
macy and  intrigue,  the  Chinese  officials  have  managed  to  break 
faith,  and  keep  out  all  outsiders.  How  much  longer  this  will 
last  remains  to  be  seen.  The  foreign  population  of  the  Hongs 
occupy  about  fifteen  acres  of  land,  none  of  which  can  be  owned 
by  the  residents.  Some  of  the  Hongs  rent  for  $4,000,  and  so  on 
down  to  $1,200  per  annum.  In  1822  most  of  these  buildings 
were  destroyed  by  fire.  The  residents  are  called  factors  ;  hence 
the  name  factories.  On  every  side  of  you,  Pigeon  English — that 
horrible  jargon  of  multilated  baby  talk  which  custom  has  made 
law — meets  you.  From  boatwomen  to  shopmen — house  boy  to 
compradore — you  hear  nothing  else.  I  endeavored  to  get  a 
copy  of  Hamlet's  soliloquy,  which  was  translated  into  Pigeon 
English,  but  I  have  failed  to  do  it.  I  can  only  remember  its 
commencement. 

"  To  be  or  not  to  be"  reads  :  "  Can — no  can."  Send  for  your 
hat,and  this  would  be  the  style :  "  Go  top  side — sabe — that  hat 
— pay  my."  A  noise  is  heard  in  an  adjoining  street ;  the  cause, 
says  the  servant,  is  "  Chiney  woman  have  catchy  one  piece  bull 
chilo."  In  other  words,  it  would  read  :  "  Mrs.  Pigtail  of  a  boy." 
I  called  upon  some  ladies ;  boy  returns  :  "  No  man  can  see,"  inti- 
mating probably  that  they  were  not  at  home.  For  "  yes,"  read 
"  can  do."  "  How  many  to  dinner  this  evening  ?"  My  boy  prompt- 
ly replies  :  "  Four  piece  man — two  piece  missie."  Of  course  I 
have  laid  in  a  good  stock  of  Chinese  presents  ;  I  should  be  con- 
sidered the  veriest  barbarian  did  I  not.  I  have  been  through  all 
the  shops  buying  sandal-wood  fans  and  card  cases,  ivory  chess 
men  and  whist  counters,  purses  and  boxes,  studs  and  Jade  stone, 
bronze  ornaments,  bamboo  work,  carved  necklaces  and  walnuts, 
and  bracelets  and  rings,  silver  and  copper  ornaments,  and  a  thou- 


102  COMMERCE    OF   CANTON. 


sand  other  little  notions  which  will  soon  reduce  your  loose  cash, 
especially  where  your  sovereign  or  pound  sterling  is  worth  but 
$4.  It  makes  a  wide  difference  in  ones  finances. 

Since  the  rebellion,  Canton  has  been  very  inactive,  and  its  sister 
ports — younger  in  experience,  younger  in  commerce,  younger  in 
years — are  gradually  taking  away  her  prestige.  Foo  Chow  is 
getting  the  black  teas,  while  Shanghae  takes  the  silks  in  large 
quantities,  and  the  green  teas,  but  Canton,  nevertheless,  has  the 
wealth,  the  capital,  the  headwork,  the  experience  and  the  ex- 
changes ;  she  is  still  hard  to  beat,  and  may  yet  be  able  to  hold 
her  head  as  high  as  her  northern  branches.  We  must  wait.  I 
was  much  surprised  to  find  such  battalions  of  Parsees  prom- 
enading in  the  factory  gardens,  all  speaking  understandable 
English.  These  high  turbaned  merchants  are  taking  off  the 
best  share  of  the  opium  trade  ;  and  now  a  clipper  steamer,  the 
Lightning,  plies  between  Calcutta  and  Cumsiug-moon — opium 
and  advices  her  only  "  pigeon."  Some  of  the  names  of  these  men 
seemed  to  have  been  given  them  purely  for  the  amusement  of  the 
Western  merchant,  for  they  have  a  strange  sound,  mixing  up 
common  and  uncommon  names,  scriptural  and  sectional.  My 
few  days'  visit  has  gone,  I  can  hardly  tell  where,  but  to-morrow 
I  am  bound  to  the  north,  and  my  next  chit-chat  you  may  expect 
from  Shanghae  or  Foo-Chow-Foo. 


CHAPTER   X. 

ON  BOARD  PACIFFC  AND  ORIENTAL  STEAMER  ERIN, 

Off  the  Yang  tze  Kang,  Shanghae,  China, 

January  11, 1856. 

Trip  along  the  Coast — Sea  Shore  Scenery — Villages,  Fortifications, 
Mountains  and  Temples — The  Hong  Kong  and  Shanghae  Steamers 
— Their  Profits,  Specie  Lists  and  Cargo— A  Mandarin  and  his  Suite — 
Coolie  Trade  of  Swatow  — The  British  Attack  on  the  Pirates — Des- 
peration of  the  gang. 

MY  trip  along  the  coast  is  comparatively  bare  of  incident. 
For  hundreds  of  miles  the  sterility  and  barrenness  of  the  huge 
mountains  of  yellow  sand  and  surf  beaten  rock  chilled  the  eye  by 
its  very  bleakness,  and  its  monotony  increased  the  cheerless  and 
inhospitable  look  of  Chinese  nature,  as  seen  along  the  shore. 
Occasionally  a  fishing  village,  black  as  the  hills  about  it,  a  forti- 
fication more  like  a  sand  ridge  than  a  defense  ;  a  pagoda  tower- 
ing high  in  the  air,  representing  the  ancient  faith  of  Bhudah 
romantic  because  so  old,  and  interesting  as  it  is  romantic,  and 
strange  as  it  is  interesting  ;  a  convoy  of  trading  junks  at  anchor 
in  a  rock-bound  bay — perhaps  a  mountain  more  fertile  than  its 
neighbors,  as  we  neared  Shanghae,  cultivated  to  its  very  summit 
— perhaps  some  of  these  changes  would  timidly  show  themselves 
to  relieve  an  excursion  otherwise  tame  for  lack  of  incident  and 
cold  with  continual  sameness  ;  a  noble  steamer,  a  quick  passage 
against  the  N.  E.  monsoon,  a  jovial,  good  natured  captain,  agree- 


104  HONG   KONG    AND    SAHNGHAE    STEAMERS. 


able  officers,  a  well  spread  table,  and  a  most  companionable  list 
of  passengers — representing  the  young  of  modern  nations,  and  a 
crew  whose  dress,  so  very  odd,  each  unlike  the  other,  and  whose 
language  differing  from  the  rest,  told  plainly  of  ancient  manners 
and  ancient  tongues — all  these  things  and  many  others  are  in 
my  mind,  and  will  serve  to  keep  the  good  ship,  Erin,  her  noble 
commander,  Captain  Jameson,  and  the  pleasant  acquaintances 
formed  on  board,  a  long  time  in  the  memory,  for  such  recollec- 
tions, when  far  away  from  home,  are  hard  to  be  forgotten.  I 
was  in  hopes  that  our  steamer  would  make  a  morning  call  at 
the  several  commercial  ports  along  the  coast,  but  it  seems  that 
it  is  not  now  the  custom,  for  the  Erin  and  Lady  Mary  Wood 
make  no  stoppages,  as  they  run  their  time  from  Hong  Kong  to 
Shanghae  with  the  monthly  overland  mail,  in  from  five  to  nine 
days,  according  to  the  monsoon.  These  are  paddle  wheel  boats, 
of  about  280  horse  power  each,  the  former  532  tons  register, 
the  latter  but  296  exclusive  of  engine  room.  Judging  from  our 
freight  list  of  $17,000,  for  six  days  duty,  the  company  must  be 
coining  money  on  this  track,  now  that  coal  can  be  bought  laid 
down  in  Hong  Kong,  for  30s.  per  ton.  We  are  full  of  passen- 
gers fore  and  aft,  and  the  smell  of  opium  tells  at  once  the  nature 
of  our  cargo  Boats. 

The  large  Bombay  and  Ganges,  formerly  here,  are  now  on 
the  India  route,  and  they,  too,  I  am  told,  are  clearing  handsome 
dividends.  Verily,  this  Eastern  company  have  it  all  their  own 
way,  and  laugh  at  competition.  For  who  can  oppose  enterprise 
backed  by  capital  ?  Nothing  surprised  me  more  than  to  find  that 
the  European  passengers  were  obliged  to  sleep  three  in  a  room, 
or  wait  for  the  next  boat,  on  account  of  most  of  the  best  state- 
rooms being  occupied  by  a  Chinese  Mandarin  of  some  note,  judg- 
ing from  his  extensive  suite.  One  of  his  attaches  spoke  French 


BRITISH    ATTACK    ON    THE    PIRATES.  105 


with  a  Parisian  accent,  but  his  English — disgraceful  to  those 
who  taught  him — was  of  the  broken  China  school.  These  men 
are  bound  to  Shanghae  on  some  government  duty,  and  speak 
good  breeding  in  their  quiet,  unassuming  and  respectful  man- 
ners. They  are  far  diffierent  from  the  Coolies  who  have  drop- 
ped down  among  us  in  Australia — as  different  as  the  Irish 
porter  and  his  lordly  master.  This  trade,  Captain  Jameson 
tells  me,  is  fast  upon  the  increase,  and  such  intercourse  combined 
with  a  more  liberal  policy  on  the  part  of  the  Australian  and 
Califoruian  legislatures,  in  permitting  emigration,  will  do  more 
to  open  China  to  the  world's  commerce  than  the  poisonous  Indian 
drug,  the  hoarse  booming  of  British  cannon,  or  the  persevering, 
never  tiring,  but  unsatisfactory  labors  of  the  foreign  missionary. 
Yes,  I  much  regret  that  the  other  Nankin  treaty  ports  are  not 
in  our  way  ;  but  as  it  is,  I  must  give  them  up,  and  content  myself 
by  looking  at  the  entrance  of  the  bays  and  rivers  and  over  the 
hills  that  overlook  the  towns  of  Amoy,  Foo-Chow  and  Ningpo, 
unless  I  can  call  on  my  return.  Swatow  is  not  a  consular  port, 
but  nevertheless  a  place  become  notorious  for  the  extent  of  its 
most  extraordinary,  because  so  strangely  peculiar  passenger 
trade  to  Havana  and  Callao,  about  180  miles  from  Hong  Kong, 
was  just  in  our  track,  and  the  towering  masts  of  some  dozen  sail 
told  us  of  the  safe  anchorage  for  which  the  place  is  known.  The 
Chinese  are  still  carrying  on  their  extensive  junk  trade  of  taking 
sugar  to  Shanghae  and  Xiugpo  ;  but  since  the  rebellion,  cause- 
ing  such  extensive  piracy  along  the  coast,  freight  ships  are  now 
more  or  less  profitably  employed  in  the  trade,  notwithstanding 
the  severe  lesson  which  Captain  Vansitthard  hi  her  Majesty's 
brig  Bittern,  on  the  18th  of  Sept,  last,  so  gallantly  taught  the 
pirate  fleet  by  boldly  beating  his  war  ship  through  a  dangerous 
and  never  before  surveyed  channel  among  the  islands,  directly  into 


106  DESPERATION    OF   THE    GANG. 


the  pirates'  stronghold,  who,  with  no  ordinary  skill,  had  brought 
the  range  of  their  entire  fleet  upon  the  narrow  pass,  but  not  with 
sufficient  knowledge  to  withstand  the  impetuous  broadside  which 
sent  their  war  junks  to  the  bottom  or  flying  in  the  air — a  brave 
deed,  which  was  so  appreciated  by  the  Chinese  merchants  of 
Shanghae,  that  a  subscription  of  some  $40,000  was  raised  as  a 
token  of  esteem  for  the  man  and  crew  who  were  so  bold  as  to 
conquer  so  desperate  a  band,  and  which  should  bring  promotion 
from  the  British  government.  Notwithstanding  this  victory, 
and  others  not  so  noted,  and  a  large  war  fleet  continually  in 
these  waters,  piracy  is  feared  by  the  steamboat  and  the  sailing 
ship,  and  every  precaution  is  taken  by  the  one  at  anchor  or  the 
other  when  becalmed. 

Night  before  last,  not  considering  it  prudent  to  run  out  into 
the  stiff  head  sea  and  current,  our  captain  brought  the  steamer 
to  anchor,  close  in  to  some  islands  near  the  shore,  but  muskets 
and  cutlasses  were  paraded  on  deck,  and  revolvers  loaded,  to 
prevent  the  night  attack  of  desperate  pirates,  who,  believing 
that  dead  men  tell  no  tales,  leave  none  to  tell  the  story.  These 
men  never  allow  themselves  to  be  taken  if  possible,  and  at  the 
time  that  the  steamer  Canton  was  cruising  with  the  Columbia 
among  the  islands  in  search  of  the  American  bark  Coquette, 
some  six  years  since,  after  boldly  defending  their  ground  inch 
by  inch,  the  pirate  chief,  with  joss  light,  rushed  into  the  maga- 
zine, and,  with  his  own  hand,  launched  himself  and  robber 
gang  upon  the  dark  waters  of  eternity,  for  the  fragments  of 
the  wreck  were  all  the  captors  could  secure.  With  such 
damnable  citizens  of  pandemonium  continually  hovering  around 
the  tempest  tossed  mariner,  I  can  only  congratulate  myself 
that  my  fortune  has  not  been  cast  among  the  cold,  uncomfort- 
able navigation  of  the  Chinese  coast. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

SHAXGHAE,  Jan.  18,  1856. 

Arrival  at  "Woosung — Anticipating  the  Mails — The  Opium  Trade — 
Adventure  in  the  Chinese  Seas — The  Missionary  Establishments — 
The  Foreign  settlements  at  Shanghae — Ingenuity  of  the  Chinese 
Mechanics — Interior  Life  of  the  Hongs — The  Streets  of  a  Chinese 
City — Model  Baths  and  Washhouses — Opium  Dens — A  Joss  House — 
A  Chinese  Tribunal — Charitable  Institutions — Club  Houses,  <fcc.,  Ac. 

HAD  I  listened  for  a  moment  to  the  observations  made  by 
many  of  my  friends  at  Hong  Kong  and  Canton,  I  should  have 
lost  the  opportunity  of  visiting  this  important  port  of  Chinese 
trade,  for  invariably,  more  especially  by  those  who  had  never 
been  to  the  northward,  I  heard  the  remark  among  Southern 
merchants,  "  You  will  see  nothing  worth  noting  at  Shanghae  ;" 
but  my  reply  was,  it  was  on  my  tourist  list,  and  I  was  bound 
to  go  there  and  judge  for  myself.  Need  I  say  that  I  have  been 
amply  repaid  for  the  trip,  by  what  I  have  seen,  gives  me  a 
better  idea  of  the  traits  and  customs  of  this  highly  interesting 
people  in  a  single  day  than  I  could  have  learned  in  months  at 
Canton.  Arriving  here  a  week  ago,  my  time  has  gone  instruct- 
ively in  ranging  through  every  hole  and  corner  in  and  about 
Shanghae — over  rice  fields  in  the  neighborhood,  and  through 
many  of  the  boats  and  junks — lorchas  and  native  craft  in  the 
river.  Although  the  Chinese  here  speak  another  dialect,  and 


108  ANTICIPATING   THE    MAILS. 


the  men  are  much  more  athletic,  they  are,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  the  same,  only  another  phase  of  this  prolific  people — 
less  piratical,  less  enterprising,  less  inclined  to  sneer  at  foreign- 
ers, but  nevertheless  ready  to  benefit  themselves  by  improving 
their  condition  in  working  for  them.  But  before  I  run  ahead 
of  my  time,  let  me  keep  up  the  connecting  link  of  my  corres- 
pondence, for  I  dropped  it  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kang-tze-Kang, 
when  making  a  note  of  my  trip  up  the  coast. 

About  ten  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  12th,  the  Erin 
came  to  anchor  at  Woosung,  a  small  village  about  eleven  miles 
from  the  port  where  the  shipping  generally  anchor  and  wait  for 
orders  ;  but  in  this  case  our  steamer  only  stopped  to  land  her 
cargo  of  opium  into  one  of  the  several  receiving  ships  in  the 
river,  where  the  captains  dispose  of  it  by  selling  to  the  China- 
men who  come  off  to  purchase,  or  deliver  it  on  orders  from  the 
merchant  in  town,  who  has  generally  received  his  pay  in  ad- 
vance. The  moment  our  boat  stopped  her  paddle  wheels,  the 
captains  of  the  opium  ships  came  on  board  to  get  the  letters  for 
their  respective  firms,  all  of  which  had  been  assorted  by  the 
purser  and  were  spread  out  upon  the  table.  These,  of  course, 
are  the  loose  letters  dropped  in  the  late  mail  bag,  and  those 
brought  up  in  the  hands  of  passengers.  The  regular  mail  goes 
up  in  the  captain's  gig,  while  these  letters  are  taken  ashore  and 
sent  post  haste  to  town  by  pony  speed,  thus  getting  two  or 
three  hours  in  advance  of  the  others  ;  and  when  news  of  great 
importance  is  at  hand,  a  carrier  pigeon  whistles  over  the  dis- 
tance, and  a  few  minutes,  instead  of  a  few  hours,  announces  the 
change  of  markets. 

I  find  at  Woosung  that  there  are  six  opium  ships,  all  full 
rigged,  well  manned,  and  heavily  armed — all  British,  and  all 
well  stocked  with  the  intoxicating  Indian  poison — whose  suffo 


ADVENTURE   IN  THE   CHINESE   SEAS.  109 


eating,  sickening  smell,  as  I  went  on  board  one  of  them,  gave 
me  a  head  sea  nausea,  and  an  aching  of  temples  which  did  not 
leave  me  during  the  day.  Long  usage  may  accustom  those  on 
board  to  endure  the  disagreeable  sensation,  but  the  novice  is 
glad  enough  to  get  away. 

Captain  de  Bushee,  of  the  Ann  Welch,  takes  charge  of  the 
letters  for  the  American  firms,  and  the  masters  of  the  Emily . 
Jane,  the  Folkstone,  Nimrod,  Swallow  and  Sea  Horse,  came 
for  their  respective  houses  and  friends.  These  men  all  seem  to 
enjoy  this  semi-piratical  mode  of  life — defrauding  the  Chinese 
revenue — and  some  of  them  have  been  here  for  many  years,  and 
are  much  respected  by  the  community.  Depriving  themselves 
of  none  of  this  world's  goods,  and  always  keeping  open  house, 
the  captains  of  the  opium  ships  are  too  generous  not  to  be  jolly 
— too  independent  not  to  be  good-natured.  If  not  at  Woo- 
sung,  at  some  of  the  other  ports,  these  men  can  entertain  you 
for  hours  in  relating  some  of  the  most  thrilling  adventures  that 
owe  their  origin  to  the  haphazard  life  of  the  China  seas.  For 
more  than  a  century,  the  coast  has  been  active  with  a  pirate 
horde,  and  whenever  an  opium  ship  or  a  treasure  boat  can  be 
surprised,  these  horrible  ruffians  of  Asia  pounce  down  upon  you, 
and  if  successful,  leave  no  marks  to  tell  of  their  bloody  work. 
If  you  want  the  reality  of  hair  breadth  escape  and  fearful 
danger,  hold  the  master  of  an  opium  ship  by  the  button  for  an 
evening,  and  you  will  be  more  entertained  than  by  reading 
Ainsworth  or  Lafitte,  a  longer  time.  Do  you  not  remember 
when  Dent's  and  Jardine's  opium  ships  Caroline  and  Omega 
were  captured,  and  the  crews  murdered  ? 

With  the  tide  in  our  favor  and  a  light  breeze,  assisted  by  a 
crew  of  Chinese  boatmen — nine  of  whom  were  at  the  rudder, 
sculling — our  puny  looking,  bamboo  masted,  latteen  sailed,  square 


110  MISSIONARY    ESTABLISHMENTS. 


at  both  ends  and  high  in  the  middle  constructed  craft  (or  house 
boat)  carried  us  past  the  wild  geese  and  ducks  in  the  distance — 
past  the  damp,  swampy,  miasmatic,  unhealthy  appearing  low- 
lands— past  the  mountains  far  beyond  the  river's  bank,  till  the 
missionary  village  first  breaks  the  monotony,  with  its  trim  church, 
surrounded  by  the  bishop's  mansion,  and  a  dozen  more  well  built, 
neatly  arranged  stone  and  mortar  houses,  the  result  of  perse- 
vering deacons  in  taking  round  the  mission  box  for  the  extra 
quarters  of  the  good  natured  congregations  of  our  New  England 
churches,  whose  pastor  still  resides  in  the  little  flower  surround- 
ed, one  and  a  half  storied,  modestly  made  cottage  under  the 
hill — well  satisfied  with  his  three  hundred  dollars  income,  be- 
cause, perhaps,  so  little  aware  of  the  comfortable  and  roomy 
dwellings  which  his  own  scanty  earnings  have  helped  to  build 
for  his  more  enterprising  brother  who  roams  away  to  distant 
seas  and  heathen  shores,  on  an  errand  worthy  of  better  success 
and  happier  results.  But  more  of  this  later  on  ;  but  even  here 
you  must  not  censure  me  for  saying  that  already  I  have  made 
up  my  mind  not  to  give  any  more  quarters  for  the  purpose  of 
evangelizing  the  Chinese.  In  the  little  Methodist  church  in 
Waltliam,  years  and  years  ago,  I  oftentimes  expressed  a  wish 
to  trace  the  history  of  the  contents  of  the  missionary  box  ;  and 
now,  as  our  boat  is  whirling  past  these  staunch  and  handsome 
buildings,  I  see  where  a  portion  of  my  money  was  invested.  We 
have  got  by  these  pleasant  little  group  of  houses,  where  the 
stars  and  stripes  are  flying  from  the  flag  pole  of  our  missionary 
consul,  and  the  foreign  shipping  looms  up  before  you,  and  the 
large  square  mansions  of  the  merchant  residents  line  the  Bund 
for  a  long  walk  and  extend  back,  one  beyond  the  other,  through 
street  after  street,  covering  a  space  of  ground  that  may  well 
surprise  the  fifteen  acre  lot  of  the  Canton  factory  community. 


r 

TEA   AND   SILK   WAREHOUSES.  Ill 


A  fair  map  of  the  township  of  Shanghae,  published  in  Lon- 
don last  year,  in  May,  tells  me  that  the  land  occupied  by  the 
foreign  residents  is  1,621  mow  which,  I  believe,  is  equal  to  270 
acres,  or  about  twenty  times  the  ground  allotted  to  the  Can- 
tonese. The  foreign  settlement  extends  from  the  Yang-King- 
Pang  canal  to  Loo-Chow  channel,  and  is  situated,  not  as  I  had 
always  supposed  before  I  came  here,  on  the  Yang-tze-Kang — 
not,  as  I  was  informed  by  some  after  being  a  day  or  two  in  the 
place,  on  the  Woosung — but  simply  on  neither  the  one  or  the 
other,  but  on  a  branch  river,  called  by  the  native  name  of 
Hwang-pu.  The  buildings  (or  hongs)  are  all  of  immense  size, 
compared  with  our  American  or  Australian  dwellings,  well  built, 
pleasantly  located,  two  stories  high,  with  upper  and  lower  veran- 
dahs, and  all  surrounded  with  a  respectable  plot  of  ground  for 
trees,  flowers  and  gardening.  In  the  rear  of  which  are  the  tea 
and  silk  warehouses,  or,  as  they  are  called,  go-downs,  some  of 
which  are  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  in  length  by  forty 
in  width,  several  connecting  with  each  other.  All  this  I  discov- 
ered during  my  morning's  ramble  after  landing  and  lunching 
with  mine  host — whose  princely  palace  faces  the  river — and 
alongside  of  which  he  is  erecting  a  magnificent  hong,  construct- 
ed of  Ningpo  granite,  the  coasting  junks  bringing  it  nearly  oppo- 
site the  door.  This  building,  I  believe  is  the  first  stone  struc- 
ture of  the  size  in  Shanghae.  The  dimensions  being  120  deep 
by  74  feet  frontage,  with  stables,  go-downs  and  compradores, 
residence,  &c.,  in  the  rear.  Some  twenty  months  have  already 
been  consumed  in  its  structure,  and  some  years  more  must  elapse 
before  it  will  be  entirely  completed  and  finished  for  occupation 
— notwithstanding,  I  find  the  workmen  do  not  stop  to  rest  in 
China  on  the  Sabbath.  I  found  much  amusement  in  going 
over  and  through  this  mass  of  connected  labor,  the  entire  in- 


112  INGENUITY    OF   THE    CHINESE    MECHANICS. 


genuity  and  industry  of  a  race  of  people  so  little  understood  in 
the  West.  Commencing  with  its  foundation  of  piles  and  large 
blocks  of  stone  passing  from  floor  to  roof,  granite  pillars  and 
brick  chimneys,  door  mouldings  and  window  frames,  fire  places, 
mantel  pieces,  bamboo  stages,  matt  mortar  hods,  and  strange 
primitive  implements  of  labor.  All  were  of  untiring  interest. 
And  this  palace  of  a  residence,  which  cannot  cost  less  than  Mr. 
Cushing's  at  Waterton,  (some  $60,000,)  is  the  entire  handiwork 
of  Chinamen — the  hard  working,  never  ceasing,  industrial  Celes- 
tials, who  have  been  so  shamefully  and  ungraciously  treated  in 
the  great  Anglo-Saxon  gold  fields.  Chop  Dollar,  the  architect 
and  master  mason  and  carpenter,  a  most  intelligent  Chinaman, 
who  derives  his  somewhat  singular  cognomen  from  the  fact  of 
his  being  badly  pock-marked,  took  me  through  the  workshops 
of  the  carpenters,  and  most  instructive  was  his  Pigeon  Eng- 
lish comments.  He  seemed  the  ruling  spirit  among  the  work- 
men, and  well  he  may,  for  his  rule  of  governing  is  that  of  all 
superiors  to  those  beneath  them,  a  word  and  a  blow,  but  some- 
times the  blow  comes  first.  I  have  dwelt  more  at  length  on 
my  going  over  this  splendid  exhibition  of  an  American's  enter- 
prise in  order  to  show  what  mechanics  and  builders  there  are 
in  the  land,  for  the  style  of  building  before  the  foreigners  came 
here  they  had  never  seen,  their  small  tenements  being  of  a  most 
inferior  class.  Even  that  of  the  Viceroy  is  not  worthy  of  what 
you  would  expect  from  the  high-sounding  name. 

As  you  walk  over  and  around  the  place  you  will  see  many 
newly  erected  houses  that  entirely  eclipse  the  humble  residences 
of  our  commission  merchants  of  the  West.  Comfort  is  the  first 
thought  of  the  China  merchant,  and  comfort  is  the  second,  and, 
I  may  safely  add,  comfort  is  the  third.  Money  is  only  an  aux- 
iliary in  catering  to  his  wish.  If  he  wants  a  palace  for  a  resi- 


CHINESE   MERCHANT.  113 


dence,  he  orders  it,  and  it  is  there — and  elegant  furniture,  choice 
engravings,  splendid  fancy  ornaments  of  bronze  or  stone,  if  from 
Asia,  or  sevres  or  Bohemian,  if  from  Europe  ;  and  all  the  little 
bijouterie  of  the  parlor  table  and  the  drawing  room  mantel — 
from  wheresoever  they  may  come,  come  at  his  bidding.  Does  he 
take  a  fancy  for  an  Arab  or  an  Australian  horse,  his  correspon- 
dent gets  a  letter,  and  his  stable,  already  filled  with  Manilla, 
Java  and  China  ponies,  is  opened  to  receive  the  foreign  stranger, 
who  is  groomed  morning,  noon  and  night,  and  fed  on  carrots 
and  cut  feed  by  some  half  a  dozen  lazy  looking  pigtail  grooms, 
who  delight  in  having  nothing  more  to  do.  I,  perhaps,  had 
better  note  that  the  horses  of  the  country  mostly  used  are  the 
Chinamen  themselves,  the  sedan  chair,  covered  or  open,  made 
of  lance  wood  or  bamboo,  according  to  taste  or  purse  of  the  owner, 
fitted  up  with  looking  glasses  and  pockets  or  without,  seems  to 
be  the  popular  mode  of  travel  from  door  to  door.  Two  coolies 
(all  porters  bear  the  name)  usually  do  the  needful  for  a  moder- 
ate sized  man,  like  correspondent,  but  Daniel  Lambert  would 
have  required  twenty,  while  Tom  Thumb  could  have  managed 
with  half  a  one.  I  have  never  yet  been  dumped  by  the  sure- 
footed beggars,  but  it  is  not  unusual  to  see  chairs  on  all  possible 
angles,  one  coolie  flat  on  his  back,  the  other  on  tiptoe,  and  the 
unfortunate  occupant  of  the  chair  in  the  most  uncomfortable 
position.  If  there  is  any  dirty  work  to  do  employ  a  Chinaman  ; 
they  will  do  anything  for  money.  Be  careful  as  you  walk  along 
the  Bund,  or  you  will  get  the  most  fragrant  deposttes  on  your 
clothes,  for  every  few  yards  you  scent  these  offal  and  filth  trad- 
ing carriers,  who  are  bearing  the  nosegay  continually  past  you 
to  the  gardens  of  the  suburbs  or  the  rice  fields  beyond  ;  and 
yet  some  of  the  gentlemen  here  pretend  to  tell  me  that  the 
Chinese  are  a  most  independent  race. 


114  STREETS. OF    A    CHINESE    CITY. 


Yesterday,  in  company  with  Dr.  Lockart,  I  made  my  first 
tour  through  the  Chinese  city,  and  what  little  I  didn't  see  during 
the  journey  is  hardly  worth  recording:  How  wonderful  the  ap- 
pearance of  all  I  saw  !  How  deeply  interesting — how  singularly 
different  from  any  of  my  past  experience  !  As  I  went  from  street 
to  street  I  could  only  articulate,  what  a  place  is  China !  If  one 
city  of  medium  size  can  show  you  things  so  novel,  what  will  you 
see  inland,  where  millions  are  congregated  within  a  single  wall  ; 
Read  Hue's  romantic  tour  through  the  interior  part  of  this  vast 
empire,  and  then  reflect  and  spend  a  few  more  hours  in  contem- 
plating a  country  and  a  people  so  able  to  support  themselves 
without  a  thing  from  the  Western  nations.  I  say,  as  I  wander 
through  this  populous  city,  my  senses  are  severely  taxed  at  being 
brought  into  contact  with  so  many  novelties  in  so  limited  a  time  ; 
and  I  can  only  express  astonishment  at  every  change  to  find 
things  so  different  on  the  spot  than  pictured  in  books.  We  must 
have  walked  some  two  or  three  miles  through  a  most  thickly 
peopled  district,  before  we  reached  the  gate,  passing  countless 
men,  women  and  children,  all  hurrying  on  with  loads  of  vegeta- 
bles, baskets  of  fowls,  bundles  of  joss  paper,  and  every  possible 
kind  of  saleable  article.  The  wall  is  very  thick,  very  high,  and 
bears  the  semblance  of  strength  ;  but  what  was  my  disgust,  to  see 
hung  up  over  the  entrance  of  the  heavily  hung  gate,  two  bamboo 
cages,  each  containing  a  human  head.  The  sight  was  most  sick- 
ening, and  I  hastened  on,  as  the  Doctor  told  me  that  two  years 
ago  you  would .  have  seen  two  hundred  instead  of  two,  which 
was  the  imperial  way  of  intimidating  the  insubordinate,  by  ex- 
posing on  the  wall  of  the  city  and  other  conspicuous  places,  the 
heads  and  bodies  of  the  executed  rebels. 

How  narrow  the  streets  are.  I  can  hardly  get  along  ;  and 
yet  it  is  the  same  with  most  of  the  Eastern  cities.  What  can 


STREETS    OF    A    CHINESE    CITY.  115 


have  been  the  object,  for  it  is  almost  impossible  to  crowd  along  ; 
and  if  you  stop  to  examine  anything  that  attracts  your  atten- 
tion, the  chances  are  decidedly  favorable  to  your  getting  the  end 
of  a  coolie  carrier's  bamboo  in  your  face,  for  they  are  continually 
hallooing  for  you  to  clear  the  path,  which  is  sometimes  difficult 
to  do  when  several  of  them  are  gradually  closing  on  you  from 
different  points,  and  you  have  only  a  few  feet  to  turn  in.  <• 

In  one  street  we  went  into  coffin  maker's  and  joss  paper 
manufactories ;  in  another  rice  and  corn  mills  ;  and  then  you 
would  fall  in  with  a  whole  row  of  blacksmiths,  carpenters,  um- 
brella makers,  comb  manufactories,  boots,  shoes,  tailors,  book- 
binders— now  and  then  a  barber,  shaving  with  his  two  inch  chisel 
of  a  razor  over  a  pastry  cook's — cakes  frizzling  in  the  pan. 
Farther  on  we  came  to  a  beautiful  street,  wider  than  the  rest — 
say  ten  to  twelve  feet — gaily  caparisoned  with  gaudy  swinging 
signs,  of  boards  or  pasteboard,  colored  cotton  or  metallic  signs, 
the  several  characters  noting  the  name  and  style  of  the  firm 
standing  out  conspicuously,  like  turkey  tracks  on  a  snow  bank, 
completely  lined  on  both  sides  with  wholesale  and  retail  salesmen, 
cloth  goods,  or  ready  made  clothing,  beans,  peas  and  rice  in  one 
shop,  and  caps  and  silks  and  cloths  in  the  next  ;  pictures  and 
paints,  cook  shops  and  eating  houses,  curiosity  mongers,  pawn- 
brokers, banks,  books  and  barbers  ;  some  polishing  stone  orna- 
ments, some  grinding  corn  and  rice,  some  kneading  dough  with 
the  pot  sizzling  ready  to  receive  it,  while  others  were  engaged 
in  counting  cash  at  some  exchange  house,  smoking  opium  in  a 
hotel,  or  drinking  samshu  in  a  pot  house,  and  an  occasional  beg- 
gar got  up  in  the  best  possible  style  with  rags  and  vermin,  sores 
and  filth,  person  exposed  and  mud  balls  stuck  on  his  forehead, 
yelling  at  the  top  of  his  voice  round  some  aristocratic  tradesman's 
place  for  money,  and  the  poor  shopman  dare  not  drive  him 


BATHS    AND    WASH-HOUSES. 



away,  for  the  professional  beggar  is  the  particular  protege  of 
government,  and  you  can  only  get  rid  of  them  by  giving  the  poor 
devils  cash,  they  then  go  on  to  the  next  and  before  night  collect 
enough  to  buy  their  rice,  drink  a  cup  of  samshu  and  then  get 
drunk  over  their  opium  pipe. 

Passing  along  this  thickly  shopped  street,  the  Doctor  suddenly 
dived  down  a  small  lane,  and  in  another  minute  I  was  in  a 
bathing  house,  where  the  poor  come  at  all  hours  of  the  day, 
and  take  a  bath  or  steaming  for  half  a  cent.  Had  I  liked  the 
smell  I  would  have  stopped  longer,  but  the  stench  of  the  steam 
room  was  rather  too  much  for  me  ;  but  I  remained  long  enough 
to  see  how  systematic  everything  was  laid  out.  Each  bather 
has  a  little  box  for  his  clothes,  and  an  obsequious  servant  to 
help  him  dress ;  and  if  they  choose,  a  cup  of  tea  was  near  at 
hand.  Some,  only  half  dressed,  were  being  operated  upon  by  a 
corn  doctor,  and  they  are  at  home  in  such  science  ;  others  were 
arguing,  I  presume,  some  knotty  point  in  Confucius,  and  some 
were  singing  with  wild  and  passionate  emphasis.  Dickens  would 
have  died  with  laughter,  and  Thackeray  would  have  exploded 
out  of  sheer  merriment,  to  see  some  of  them  come  out  of  the 
steam  closet — one  especially,  weighing  some  250  pounds,  came 
rushing  out,  his  long  tail  dragging  the  ground,  like  a  huge  rat — 
His  eyes  blind  with  steam,  his  legs  and  neck  like  three  pieces  of 
bamboo,  all  of  the  same  size,  only  the  latter  not  quite  so  long. 
These  three  and  his  head  might  have  made  up  the  50  pounds, 
but  the  200  pounds  was  the  rest  of  his  body.  Take  him  all  in 
all,  he  resembled  some  of  their  Bhudah  gods — say  Bacchus,  just 
after  he  had  swallowed  a  couple  of  goats.  The  moment  this 
strange  sight  appeared  I  burst  into  uproarious  laughter ;  the 
doctor  laughed,  and  his  own  countrymen,  the  Chinese  servants, 
jumped  off  their  feet  in  pure  delight.  It  was  a  sight  to  be  re- 


OPIUM  DENS.  117 


membered.  The  gentlemanly  manager  of  the  establishment  asked 
me  if  I  would  like  to  be  steamed.  I  told  him  nothing  would 
give  me  more  pleasure,  but  that  just  now  my  time  wouldn't  ad- 
mit, and  with  my  fingers  acting  as  a  temporary  vice  upon  my 
nose,  I  gave  him  a  chin-chin  and  bolted  out  of  the  place.  The 
next  place  we  visited  was  one  of  the  many  opium  dens  you  find 
in  every  street.  There  were  about  a  dozen  poor  besotted  devils 
in  different  stages  of  intoxication,  and  some  lifelessly  drunk  upon 
the  floor.  Go  into  one  of  these  hells,  if  you  want  to  see  what 
effect  opium  has  upon  those  who  indulge  in  it  to  excess.  About 
the  room  were  coarse  benches  and  one  or  two'  beds,  where,  lay- 
ing down,,  resting  upon  their  elbows,  with  a  little  rush  light 
before  them,  they  would  with  a  long  needle  insert  one  of  the 
little  balls  into  the  end  of  their  pipes  and  smoke  away,  letting 
the  smoke  disappear,  usually,  through  the  nostrils.  The  opium 
is  handed  to  them  in  little  cups  about  the  size  of  a  thimble,  and 
they  are  allowed  to  make  themselves  drunk  for  one  cent. 
Like  the  bathing  room,  the  stench  was  too  powerful  for  me,  and 
I  left ;  but  I  have  a  word  more  to  say  on  this  question  before  I 
bid  good  bye  to  China.  A  little  further  on  we  found  an  English 
missionary's  church,  built  of  stone,  and  also  saw  an  American 
lecture  room  in  the  midst  of  the  most  populous  part  of  the  city. 
A  loud  voice  attracted  me  towards  the  former,  and  I  entered 
the  house  of  God  to  hear  a  fellow  Anglo-Saxon  hold  forth  to  a 
hundred  ugly  looking  vagabonds  in  their  own  language.  They 
were  coming  in  and  going  out  continually — curiosity  being  the 
most  prominent  feature  on  their  countenance  ;  few  seemed  to 
remain  for  any  length  of  time.  Praise  worthy  and  persevering 
must  be  the  man  who  can  spend  his  breath  and  time  expounding 
some  dry  doctrinal  scriptural  question  to  these  poor  creatures, 
who  live  on  from  day  to  day  all  objectless. 


118  CHINESE   TRIBUNAL. 


From  the  missionaries'  temple,  we  went  to  the  Chinamen's 
house  of  Joss.  Here  we  found  a  large  hall,  entered  by  a  spa- 
cious court,  in  the  midst  of  which  was  a  huge  bronze  cup,  with 
the  names  of  those  who  had  subscribed  to  place  it  there  engraved 
upon  its  side  ;  a  penny  subscription  monument,  a  curious  relic 
of  two  hundred  years  ago.  The  outside  of  the  temple  was  sin- 
gularly ornamented  with  quaint  designs  of  birds  and  animals, 
vegetables  and  trees  ;  and  in  the  interior  were  immense  statues, 
all  gilt,  of  Bhudah— the  past,  the  present,  and  the  future.  Be- 
side these  were  other  forms,  larger  than  life — youth  and  age, 
happiness  and  misery,  peace  and  war,  the  pregnant  mother  and 
the  new  born  babe,  laughter  and  scorn,  and  several  other  em- 
blems which  I  do  not  remember.  These  figures  all  represented 
their  several  characters  to  the  letter,  and  must  have  cost  much 
money.  Opposite  the  No.  1  god  were  little  sticks  to  burn  hom- 
age and  Joss  paper  to  set  on  fire  ;  and  that  is  their  idea  of  wor- 
ship. 

Again  we  are  off  for  the  court  of  justice,  and  this  was  a  memo- 
rable half  hour  in  my  tour.  A  clean,  dignified  room,  with  a 
mandarin,  whose  whole  mein  bore  unmistakable  marks  of  author- 
ity, sitting  on  the  seat  of  the  judge,  with  policemen  and  assist- 
ants, officials  and  clerks,  on  every  side  ;  but  the  prisoners,  with 
chains  about  their  legs,  and  arms  hid  behind  them,  were  waiting 
their  trial  and  the  decision  of  the  judge.  One  man  was  up  in 
the  criminal  box,  but  the  system  of  examination  was  too  £ruel 
for  me  to  continue  long  in  the  room.  First  the  guard  struck 
him  fiercely  over  the  mouth  with  a  bamboo  official  staff,  the  poor 
wretch  shrieking  with  pain  ;  the  other  prisoners  all  the  while 
stolid  and  indifferent  spectators,  not  knowing  who  came  next. 
Afterwards  another  kind  of  torture  was  resorted  to,  the  guard 
making  the  criminal  kneel  down  with  his  hands  above  his  head 


CHARITABLE  INSTITUTIONS.  119 


in  a  position  which  extorted  yells  of  agony — the  judge  and  the 
officials  all  wearing  the  utmost  indifference.  A  little  further  on 
there  were  two  criminals  with  huge  bolts  about  their  ancles, 
and  the  kang,  (a  large  square  piece  of  plank)  hung  round  their 
neck.  The  whole  trial  seemed  a  farce,  a  mixture  of  brutal  cru- 
elty with  refined  barbarism.  From  the  court  we  went  to  the 
bastinado  .or  jail,  and  saw  scores  of  prisoners  above  and  below  ; 
all  the  cells  were  crowded,  and  the  clanking  of  chains,  and 
hoarse  growls  of  the  prisoners  spoke  another  feature  of  Chinese 
life. 

The  benevolent  institutions  was  our  next  resort,  and  here  you 
see  the  charity  of  the  government  in  providing  for  the  lame,  the 
halt  and  the  blind,  attendants,  nurses,  doctors,  all  arrayed  in 
the  style  of  our  own  hospitals,  everything  furnished  by  the  im- 
perial magnate.  The  patients  were  very  numerous,  and  seemed 
well  cared  for.  This  was  a  public  hospital.  We  also  went  into 
the  city  charity  house,  and  one  private  house  for  the  distressed, 
poor,  all  of  which  institutions  gave  me  impressions  of  the  kind- 
heartedness  of  a  people  who,  when  in  the  time  of  their  prosperity, 
put  by  a  little  for  those  who  have  not  been  so  fortunate.  But 
nothing  struck  me  with  more  respect  and  surprise  than  upon 
being  taken  through  a  foundling  hospital.  For  a  moment  I 
could  not  credit  it  ;  I  had  never  read  of  such  a  place  among 
the  Chinese,  and  of  course  was  much  surprised  to  find  an  institu- 
tion of  such  a  charitable  nature  conducted  upon  the  same  prin- 
ciples as  those  of  France,  England  or  America.  There  was  a 
little  drawer  in  the  side  of  the  house,  directly  facing  one  of  the 
public  streets,  where  the  forsaken  babe  was  deposited,  the  open- 
ing of  which  caused  a  ringing  of  bells,  when  a  nurse  was  ap- 
pointed, and  the  little  stranger  was  wrapt  up  in  a  blanket  and 
.duly  nourished  and  cared  for.  As  we  entered,  the  nurses,  each 


120  RUINS    OF    THE    BURNT   DISTRICT. 


with  a  child  in  her  arms,  started  off  in  all  directions,  apparently 
frightened  at  the  appearance  of  the  fav^quais,  (foreign  devils). 
It  was  some  time  before  they  would  come  out  of  their  rooms, 
and  then  they  stared  at  us  with  unfeigned  surprise.  I  should 
have  taken  up  one  of  the  lilliputian  Celestials,  but  I  was  cau- 
tioned against  it— for,  if  no  contagious  disease  is  caught,  you 
are  sure  to  get  vermin  on  your  dress.  We  wandered  about 
the  large  apartments  from  room  to  room,  all  of  which  had  one 
or  two  occupants,  and  some  were  filled  with  older  children,  in 
baby-jumpers  of  strikingly  original  make,  the  nurses  all  appear- 
ing, after  a  moment  of  fright,  to  gaze  upon  the  strange  sight 
of  features,  manner  and  dress.  Is  it  possible,  said  I,  that  all 
the  charitable  institutions  of  the  European  and  Anglo-Saxon 
race  are  all  observed  in  such  detail  in  Asiatic  China  ?  I  have  seen 
enough  for  one  day.  I  must  have  time  for  reflection.  I  was 
unprepared  for  many  of  the  customs — many  of  the  wonders  that 
were  in  our  path  ;  I  was  tired,  for  the  Dr.'s  walk  was  fatiguing 
to  a  novice,  in  a  strange  city,  where  streets,  lanes,  and  paths 
are  over  flag-stones  and  bricks  made  slippery  with  a  never-ceas- 
ing tread  of  human  life.  I  saw  several  more  temples — went  into 
more  bath  houses — more  opium  dens,  and  several  other  shops  ; 
but,  describing  one,  you  see  all.  The  ruins  of  the  burnt  district 
covered  many  acres,  and  it  is  only  a  subject  of  surprise  that  the 
imperial  troops  did  not  entirely  destroy  the  city,  for  the  fire,  as 
at  Moscow,  was  started  at  several  points.  Like  Califoruians, 
however,  they  are  fast  at  work — the  same  owners  re-building 
their  tenements — and  hard  at  it  trying  to  recover  what  they 
have  lost.  I  saw  the  walls  where  the  French  wasted  their 
cannon  balls,  and  tried  to  knock  down  the  city  ;  but  it  was  like 
firing  through  a  piece  of  mortar.  One  temple  was  pierced 
through  and  through — completely  riddled  with  shot,  but  like 


THE  CHINAMEN'S  MARKET.  121 


Banquo's  ghost,  the  walls  would  not  down.  I  also  saw  where 
the  company  of  marines  were  mowed  down  by  shot  they  could 
not  trace.  It  seems  the  Chinese  rebels  had  stationed  them- 
selves in  buildings  facing  the  place  where  the  wall  was  weak- 
ened by  the  French  cannon,  behind  holes  cut  in  the  side  and 
pasted  over  with  paper,  and  bullets  were  continually  flying  about 
them,  but  no  one  could  tell  from  whence  they  came.  Near 
this  place  was  a  new  kind  of  grave  yard,  where  the  poor  were 
buried  above  ground,  in  coarse  wooden  coffins  of  great  size, 
merely  deposited  on  the  ground  ;  and  as  the  bodies  decompose 
the  air  becomes  fearful  and  suffocating. 

I  am  surprised  that  it  was  not  more  sickly  than  it  is.  The 
.seventy-two  stenches  which  Coleridge  encountered  at  Cologne, 
were  a  cologne  bottle,  compared  with  the  seven  hundred  and 
twenty  in  a  Chinese  city.  In  several  places  pieces  of  red  paper 
were  pasted  on  the  house,  telling  the  passer  by  that  the  small- 
pox was  raging  in  the  tenement  within.  In  going  home  I  went 
through  the  Chinamen's  market — an  immense  speculation  of  an 
American,  a  member  of  the  extensive  Smith  family.  If  he  suc- 
ceeds in  finishing  the  mammoth  building  and  its  approaches,  it 
will  make  his  fortune.  Tired  as  I  was,  I  got  back  in  time  to 
meet  my  appointment  at  the  game  of  tenpins,  at  a  private  club, 
well  arranged,  well  conducted  ;  but  the  alleys  are  spoilt  by 
being  about  twenty  inches  wider  than  they  should-be.  You  may 
see  a  proof  of  that  in  finding  176  chalked  up  as  being  the  high- 
est roll.  ,- 

The  billiard  tables  are  mostly  in  the  Hongs,  all  private.  The 
trip  to  the  pagoda  I  gave  up  to  go  down  to  Woosung,  where  I 
was  amply  paid  for  the  excursion.  I  also  wanted  to  go  to  Foo- 
chow  and  Nankin,  but  I  was  cautioned  against  the  trip,  for  the 
pirate  rebels  were  continually  on  the  water.  I  had  not  given 


122  BOUND   TO    SIMODA   Via    SHANGHAE. 


up  all  hopes  of  going  to  Japan,  and  did  my  best  to  get  up  a 
party  of  gentlemen  to  charter  the  Erin  or  Confucius  steamer, 
but  all  to  no  use  ;  some  excuse  or  other  was  sure  to  throw  me 
off  the  track.  I  then  made  up  my  mind  to  go  alone,  and  engag- 
ed my  passage  in  the  Greta,  bound  to  Simoda  via  Shanghae 
from  Hong  Kong,  to  take  the  Dutch  cargo  which  was  laying 
there  in  charge  of  the  supercargo,  in  a  Japanese  temple. 


•»< 


"       '  CHAPTER    XII. 

SHAXGHAE,  Jan.  20,  1856. 

The  Merchants  of  Shanghae — Trade  with  Japan — The  Voyage  of  a  New 
London  Trader  to  Simoda — His  Disappointment  and  Subsequent 
Adventures — Value  of  the  Perry  Treaty — Shanghae  as  a  "Whaling 
Station — Future  Progress  of  that  City — Its  Government,  Trade, 
Population  and  Climate — Banks  and  Rate  of  Exchange — Mercantile 
Routine  and  Salary  of  Clerks — A  Ball  and  the  Ladies. 

As  the  Greta's  arrival  was  most  uncertain,  I  was  obliged 
to  throw  up  my  Japan  visit  till  some  more  favorable  time.  I  find, 
however,  that  I  knew  more  about  the  island  before  I  left  Aus- 
tralia than  I  have  been  enabled  to  gather  from  the  merchants  of 
China.  They  do  not  seem  to  have  given  the  matter  the  least 
thought.  I  was  glad  to  fall  in  with  Capt.  Brown,  of  New  Lou- 
don,  whose  unfortunate  expedition  under  the  Commodore  Perry 
treaty,  has  already  gone  home  to  the  American  press. 

He  left  that  port  on  the  23d  of  January,  1855,  in  the  schoon- 
er "Wilmington  (136  tons,  fitted  out  by  one  of  the  most  enter- 
prising of  the  New  London  merchants)  with  an  assorted  cargo, 
consisting,  however,  mostly  of  liquors  ;  arrived  at  Hong  Kong, 
after  a  long  passage,  on  the  7th  of  August,  and  ran  up  to  Simo- 
da in  nine  days.  He  came  to  anchor  without  a  pilot,  and  found 
the  moment  he  landed  that  no  goods  could  be  sold,  none  bought, 
and  that  the  voyage  was  already  a  failure.  He  found  Luhdorf, 


124  SHANGHAE    AS    A    WHALING    STATION. 


the  Greta's  supercargo,  living  an  easy  life  in  a  temple,  but 
his  goods  were  without  a  market.  He  was  only  waiting  for  a 
vessel  to  come  and  take  his  ventures  away.  The  captain  wrote 
to  the  Governor  of  Simoda  regarding  his  ship  and  cargo,  and 
in  due  time  his  letter  was  returned  unanswered.  I  have  the 
envelope,  with  English  and  Japanese  address.  Wood  they 
agreed  to  supply  at  $5  per  cord  and  water  at  50c.  per  ton.  The 
captain  was  allowed  to  walk  seven  miles  inland  but  no  further  ; 
he  was  also  shown  some  of  the  sights  of  the  town.  He  spoke 
of  the  bathing  houses,  where  both  sexes,  in  a  state  of  nature, 
were  indulging  in  their  morning  ablutions.  Some  of  the  women 
were  very  beautiful — small  hands  and  feet,  and  a  complexion  as 
fair  as  the  ladies  of  the  States. 

Finding  nothing  could  be  accomplished  at  Simoda  he  set  sail 
for  Hakodadi,  and  ran  up  in  ten  days.  Here  some  of  the  offi- 
cials crowded  about  him,  one  or  two  of  them  speaking  a  little 
English.  No  meat  nor  provisions  could  be  bought.  All  they 
seemed  to  have  were  beets,  scullions  and  turnips,  and  they  were 
given  away. 

At  the  time  Captain  Brown  left,  (1st  September)  there  were 
no  whalers  nor  merchantmen  in  port.  He,  an  old  whaler  him- 
self and  a  man  of  good  observation,  considers  neither  of  the  trea- 
ty ports  as  at  all  adapted  for  whaling  ports  ;  Chusan,  and  even 
Shanghae,  were  far  preferable.  Japan,  he  says,  is  not  easy  of 
access,  and  at  times  most  unsafe  to  make  ;  and  even  if  provisions 
could  be  purchased,  the  high  prices,  which  aj-e  multiplied  with 
Commodore  Perry's  stupid  arrangement  about  exchange,*  where- 
by the  dollar  is  only  worth  thirty-four  cents,  would  not  make 
the  port  desirable  for  whalers.  Captain  Brown  has  entered  his 

*  It  appears  that  this  arrangement  was  not  to  be  permanent  but 
intended  only  to  answer  immediate  purposes. 


GEOGRAPHICAL    POSITION    OF    SHANGHAE.  125 


protest  for  the  recovery  of  $36,000,  which  he  estimates  to  be 
his  claim  against  the  United  States  government  for  the  non-ful- 
fillment of  the  treaty.  The  protest  has  gone  to  Washington  ; 
there,  I  think,  it  will  be  thrown  under  the  table. 

I  don't  entirely  agree  with  Captain  Brown  that  Shanghae  is 
the  most  desirable  port  for  whalers,  although  the  newly  moored 
lightship  in  the  Yang-tze-Kang,  good  pilots,  geographical  posi- 
tion and  cheap  supplies ,  well  placed  buoys  and  proper  sailing 
directions,  are  strong  inducements  ;  but  the  chances  are  that  the 
homeward  bound  clippers  would  be  apt  to  take  away  their  sail- 
ors, a  law  that  Japan  ports  would  not  inflict.  The  merchants, 
seeing  no  benefit  to  any  but  the  ship  chandlers,  and  fearing  the 
continual  meeting  of  drunken  crews  on  the  Bund,  discourage 
attempts  to  make  it  a  whaling  port. 

My  time  at  Shanghae  is  winding  up,  for  to-inorrow  I  ani  bound 
to  the  coast,  in  the  John  Wade,  to  take  a  look  at  the  new  com- 
mercial giant  that  just  now  is  attracting  so  much  attention,  Foo- 
chow-foo.  I  have  been  here  long  enough  to  satisfy  myself  that 
Shanghae,  in  spite  of  the  serious  check  given  to  its  progress  by 
the  rebellion,  is  bound  to  go  ahead.  Its  geographical  position 
towards  the  great  northern  seaports,  the  Yellow  river  a  near 
neighbor,  and  Shangtung  sending  down  thousands  of  trading 
junks  every  year — its  proximity  to  the  green  tea  country  and  its 
immense  silk  exports,  some  sixty  thousand  bales  per  year — the 
fact  of  its  situation  at  the  mouth  of  that  enormous  river,  almost 
another  Mississippi,  continually  pouring  down  its  immense  trade, 
junks  upon  junks — its  proximity  to  Japan,  Formosa  and  the 
Southern  treaty  ports — the  large  amount  of  foreign  capital  in- 
vested in  land  and  building  property — the  increasing  import 
trade  and  natural  position  of  the  place — all  tend  to  show  its  fu- 
ture, and  can  but  mark  its  character.  The  China  bankers  seem 


126  CLIMATE  OK  SHANGHAE. 


to  have  plenty  of  money,  and  the  China  compradorc — that  myste- 
rious attache  to  all  mercantile  establishments — understands  how 
to  make  use  of  it  in  feathering  his  own  nest,  while  he  appears 
to  devote  his  entire  time  and  brains  to  the  merchant  that  em- 
ploys him. 

The  government  of  Shanghae  is  vested  in  a  Council  of  Three, 
elected  by  the  landholders — 156  title  deeds  having  been  regis- 
tered at  the  Consul's. 

Receipts  last  year,  warfages,  taxes,  &c.,  were  $24,903. 

And  the  expenditure 20,520. 

— which  shows  a  balance  on  the  right  side. 

Young  G.  Griswold  Gray,  who  lost  his  leg  in  the  attack 
on  the  Imperialist  camp,  is  at  present  Mayor  of  the  settlement, 
in  connexion  with  two  English  gentlemen.  Foreigners  cannot 
own  land  in  China,  but  pay  a  nominal  rent  of  a  few  hundred 
cash,  in  perpetuity — property  transferable. 

I  found  the  weather  very  cold — a  regular  Boston  northeaster, 
and  I  am  told  that  the  rapid  changes  in  the  autumn  and  spring 
occasion  pulmonary  and  rheumatic  complaints  ;  whether  true  or 
not,  I  can  testify  to  there  being  four  or  five  medical  gentlemen 
in  a  community  numbering  about  280  souls. 

Dr.  Lockhart  says  the  temperature  varies  during  the  year 

from  100  to  24  degrees. 

In  running  my  eye  over  the  Shanghae  almanac  of  1856  I  find 

the  population  consists,  as  the  editor  classifies  it,  of  75  Typans  or 
heads  of  houses,  94  mercantile  assistants,  while  the  balance  are 
put  down  as  officials,  missionaries,  professional  men,  &c.  There 
are  three  banking  establishments  in  the  place — Commercial  Bank 
of  India,  Mercantile  Bank  of  India,  and  the  Oriental  Bank  ; 
all,  judging  from  the  imports  and  exports,  must  be  a  doing  a  pay- 
ing business,  with  exchanges  ruling  between  6s.  and  7s.  9d.,  in 


MERCHANTILE    ROUTINE.  127 


one  instance,  to  the  dollar.  At  the  present  time  the  New  York 
merchant  purchasing  silk  or  tea  in  this  market  pays  $1  70  for  $1. 
Novices  in  exchange  will  be  upset  in  their  calculations.  Even 
between  Canton  and  this  port  exchange  differs  some  thirty  per 
cent.  The  par  of  exchange  in  the  North  Atlantic  is  $4  80, 
but  sad  experience  has  taught  me  that  there  is  a  wide  difference 
between  this  and  your  part  of  the  world,  for  here  I  take  notice 
that  my  sovereign  or  pound  sterling  was  past  to  my  credit  as 
$2  92,  which  makes  a  vast  difference  in  a  man's  financial  arrange- 
ments. In  Hong  Kong  and  Canton  they  gave  me  $4  ;  but  the 
Chinaman's  fancy  for  the  Carolus  dollar  occasions  all  the  mis- 
chief. Now  as  these  dollars  are  gradually  being  melted  down, 
and  the  whole  world  has  been  raked  and  scraped  to  furnish  them, 
the  question  naturally  arises,  how  much  longer  is  this  thing  go- 
ing to  last  ?  As  the  difference  in  the  exchange  usually  comes  off 
the  price  of  the  goods,  it  makes  precious  little  difference  to  the 
Chinamen.  They  have  a  right  to  their  fancies — let  them  pay 
for  it. 

The  late  duty  question  is  still  in  embryo.  Murphy,  the  Con- 
sul, has  gone,  and  the  lac  of  dollars  pending  between  the  Chinese 
government  and  the  merchants,  I  believe,  is  locked  up  in  the 
bank  safes. 

During  my  stay  I  have  had  a  good  chance  to  see  the  style  of 
doing  business  here.  The  merchants  seem  to  have  little  to  do 
besides  getting  off  their  mail,  and  talking  with  the  Chinamen  ; 
every  thing  else  is  done  by  assistants.  Every  house  employs  a 
tea  taster,  who  makes  the  purchases  on  his  individual  judgment, 
and  a  silk  inspector,  who  attends  to  that  pigeon  ;  each  of  which 
is  a  regular  profession  of  itself,  and  requires  years  of  study. 
Some  of  these  gentlemen  have  made  their  fortunes  in  this  way. 
The  salaries  of  the  clerks  vary  from  $800  to  $2,500,  the  latter 


Of  A   BALL  AXD   THK   LADIES 

price  for  bookkeepers  of  long  experience.  These  sums  are 
entirely  exclusive  of  their  household  expenses,  which  are  paid  by 
the  firm.  I  believe  that  $60  a  month  is  allowed,  which  gives 
them  good  lodgings,  a  good  table,  a  coolie  chair  and  boy.  I 
think,  however,  many  of  the  young  gentlemen  exceed  that  sum, 
for  they  are  not  apt  to  practice  economy  in  these  countries. 
Most  of  them  are  perfectly  contented,  and  talk  of  tile  number 
of  years  they  have  been  and  intend  to  remain  here,  with  praise- 
worthy nonchalance. 

Aside  from  sight  seeing.  Banging  over  tile  gardens  and 
watching  the  Chinamen  for  hours  together  prepare  the  silk  for 
inspection,  and  rattan,  mat,  mark  and  arrange  the  tea  for  ship- 
ment— a  most  interesting  sight,  done  so  rapidly  and  ingeniously, 
at  a  trifling  expense,  never  making  a  mistake  in  delivering,  for 
the  delivery  is  a  succession  of  checks — first  at  the  door,  then  at 
the  gate,  again  at  the  cargo  boat,  and  once  more  at  the  ship — 
a  small  stick  left  at  each  place  for  every  package — I  say,  aside 
from  catching  a  passing  knowledge  of  these  several  things,  my 
time  has  mysteriously  disappeared  in  the  pleasures  of  social  life. 

The  evening  I  arrived  I  attended  a  huge  ball,  given  by  one  of 
the  leading  merchants,  when  I  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
most  of  the  gentlemen  and  the  seventeen  foreign  ladies  of  Shang- 
hae ;  among  which  were  two  of  my  fair  countrywomen,  whose 
merry  laughter  and  pleasant  conversation  are  still  ringing  in 
mine  ear.  Should  these  lines  ever  happen  to  reach  so  far,  they 
will  see  that  they  are  not  forgotten.  The  Hongs  are  well  arrang- 
ed for  parties,  for  there  is  no  poverty  of  room.  Some  of  our 
party  table  caterers  would  have  gone  wild  with  pleasure  to  wit- 
ness the  graceful  elegance  and  tasteful  profusion  at  the  supper 
of  our  host  At  the  door  of  the  ballroom  were  several  China 
merchants  and  natives  who  seemed  particularly  delighted  at  the 


SHANGHAE   HOSPITALITY.  129 


habits  and  customs  of  ye  foreign  devils  in  their  hours  of  pleasure. 
Four  o'clock  was  a  late  hour  for  a  stranger  to  go  home,  but 
your  correspondent  could  not  make  any  better  arrangement. 
This  was  the  first  day,  and  until  nowj  every  morning,  every 
noon  and  in  the  evening,  dining  and  tiffining,  breakfasting  and 
excursion  going,  I  have  seen  one  round  of  hospitality.  Such  are 
the  customs  here,  and  not  to  accept  would  offend,  and  in  accept- 
ing time  flies — information  obtained — amusement  afforded — 
pleasant  acquaintances  formed — favorable  impressions  made, 
and  memories  strengthened  with  never  ending  kindness  and 
attention. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

ON  BOARD  CLIPPKE  SHIP  JOHN  WADE,  FOR      ) 
HONG  KONG,  VIA  FOO-CHOW,  JANUARY  23,  1856.  J 

Departure  from  Shanghae,  en  route  to  Hong  Kong — Threatening  Weath- 
er— Navigation  of  the  Yang-tze-Kang — New  Scenes — Uglier  Natives 
and  Another  Language — Boating  in  the  River  Min — Gunning  and 
Tall  Game — Foo-chow  City — Its  Trade — Foreign  Population — Young 
America  About  Town — Narrow  Streets,  Crowds,  Bustle  and  Noise — 
Meeting  a  High  Official — A  Curious  Old  Priest  in  a  Cage — Beauties 
of  the  Country. 

WE  are  off.  I  am  glad  of  it,  and  yet  I  am  not,  for  I  could 
have  spent  more  days  most  pleasantly  with  the  jovial  natured, 
generous  dispositioned,  princely,  hospitable  merchants  of  that 
soon  to  be  Melbourne  of  the  China  waters  ;  but  I  have  talked 
Shanghae  in  my  last,  and  this  is  to  tell  of  departure  and  sail 
down  the  coast.  I  am  off  but  I  leave  with  regret,  for  I  may 
never  again  see  the  same  familiar  faces,  and  my  late  traveling 
companion  stops  behind.  Young  Collie  of  Aberdeen  a  genuine 
specimen  of  young  Scotland,  combining  business  with  pleasure, 
he,  like  myself,  is  taking  his  first  draught  of  China  life.  He  has 
just  formed  a  party  to  visit  some  of  the  cities  up  the  Yang-tze- 
Kang,  but  I  prefer  to  see  close  on  the  river  Min — his  classical 
mind  drinks  in  the  scenes  of  this  novel  life — while  the  practical 
knowledge  gained  and  business  connexion  formed,  are  of  great 
advantage  to  his  flourishing  house  in  Manchester.  How  fortu- 


EX  ROUTE  TO*  HOXG  KONG.  131 


nate  was  I  to  get  a  chance  to  visit  Foo-chow,  more  especially 
when  the  non-arrival  of  the  Greta  took  the  life  out  of  my  Japan 
expedition,-  where  I  had  fully  made  up  my  mind  to  see  the  Em- 
peror, or  make  myself  a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  opening  Ses- 
ame. So  seldom  are  there  opportunities  of  visiting  Foo-chow, 
I  consider  myself  in  luck  to  get  on  board  so  fine  a  ship  as  the 
John  Wade  in  company  with  such  pleasant  companions  as  the 
young  and  enterprising  owner,  Augustine  Head  Jr.,  (at  whose 
invitation  I  am  here)  and  Young  Gray  of  New  York — who  are 
bound  to  Canton,  only  stopping  to  look  at  a  port  that  so  sudden- 
denly  has  been  shown  to  the  tea  drinking  world.  On  the  21st, 
a  fair  wind  made  the  beautiful  little  Boston  yacht  fly  over  the 
water  to  join  our  ship  below  Woosung,  which,  as  is  the  custom, 
went  down  the  day  before.  What  is  there  more  gladdening  to 
the  native  born,  when  thousands  of  miles  away  from  his  pilgrim 
home,  in  a  far  distant  port,  than  a  sail  in  a  clipper  yacht  like 
the  Halcyon,  which  says  so  much  for  the  taste  and  enterprise  of 
its  owner,  more  especially  when  another  model  of  nautical  beauty, 
on  a  larger  scale,  is  passing  up  as  you  are  going  down  ?  I  know 
the  boat ;  it  is  the  clipper  launched  for  the  World's  Fair — the 
Nightingale — just  in  from  Canton,  bound  up  to  her  anchorage. 
Next  to  a  beautiful  woman,  give  me  an  American  clipper.  I 
like  them  both  ;  but  as  I  have  not  yet  seen  the  former  in  the 
Indian  and  Asiatic  seas,  I  am  the  more  delighted  to  find  a  fel- 
low-countryman in  the  latter — for  the  one  sits  as  proudly  on 
the  water  as  a  Western  nightingale  at  her  piano. 

I  am  glad  to  get  away,  for  I  do  not  like  the  appearance  of 
the  weather,  and  the  Yang-tze-Kang  is  not  the  most  agreeable 
navigation  in  a  dark  night,  on  a  turning  tide — for  it  is  forty 
miles  wide  at  its  mouth,  and  choked  up  with  mud  banks  and 
ugly  shoals.  Our  ship  works  well.  I  wish  I  could  say  as  much 


132  NAVIGATION    OF   THE    YANG-TZE-KANG. 

' 

for  the  infernal  Manilla  crew,  who  manage  to  understand  their 
broken  China,  broken  Portuguese,  quarter  Spanish  and  a  little 
English  orders.  But  in  a  regular  gale  I  should  feel  myself 
about  as  safe  with  a  lot  of  Bedouin  Arabs  in  the  Dead  Sea. 
We  got  out  safely,  thank  God  ;  but  when  the  main  topsail  went 
to  threads  under  the  fierce  nor'wester,  the  tide  running  a  perfect 
sluice,  and  the  strong  current  sweeping  us  on  to  the  North  Sad- 
dle, it  certainly  looked  far  from  pleasant,  for  the  chances  most 
decidedly  were  against  us  ;  for  when  you  split  your  best  topsail, 
the  wind  all  the  while  increasing,  and  a  black  crew  hardly  able 
to  obey  orders,  even  did  they  understand  them,  a  ship  jammed, 
in  a  shoally  channel  cannot  be  handled  much  more  handily  than 
a  runaway  horse  in  a  crowded  city.  I  hope  our  Boston  pilot 
reached  Woosung  without  accident.  But  piloting  on  board  of 
such  a  hearse-resembling  craft  as  that  in  which  Mr.  Ayres  got 
on  board,  is  no  envious  life  to  lead.  I  cannot  see  how  five  dol- 
lars a  foot  will  satisfy  a-  "down  Easter"  in  pursuing  such  a  cold 
and  cheerless  occupation  as  piloting  in  the  Yang-tze-Kang  in 
midwinter. 

When  once  fairly  clear  of  the  lightship  we  made  good  time, 
got  up  a  new  topsail,  loaded  our  six  cannon  and  all  our  muskets 
to  receive  the  pirates,  but  did  not  have  occasion  to  make  use 
of  them.  In  fact,  we  did  not  even  have  the  excitement  of  run- 
ning down  one  of  the  fishing  junks,  that  were  never  out  of  our 
track  ;  and  in  three  days  we  passed  Sharp  Peak  and  anchored 
inside  of  the  Kin-pai  pass,  ahead  of  the  Henry  Harbeck,  that 
sailed  a  day  or  two  before  us. 

Here  I  discovered  still  another  feature  of  Chinese  scenery  and 
Chinese  natives,  all  different  from  what  I  noted  in  other  places 
in  this  vast  empire,  which  I  have  seen.  The  natives  even  speak 
a  different  language  ;  for  our  black-turbaned,  big-breeched  ugly- 


$ 

BOATING    ON    THE    RIVER   MIN.  133 


looking  devil  of  a  pilot,  although  he  wore  the  tail,  and  apparent- 
ly spoke  the  same  jargon,  could  only  make  himself  understood 
by  motions  ;  and  when  Chop  Dollar  who  came  down  with  us — 
a  most  intelligent  Canton  man,  well  up  in  the  Shanghae  dialect 
— was  called  down  to  interpret,  it  was  most  amusing  to  see  him, 
after  failing  in  his  Chinese  dialect,  trying  to  make  himself  under- 
stood in  Pigeon  English.  How  absurd  to  hear  two  Chinamen 
of  different  districts  using  the  broken  China  jargon  as  a  court 
language  I 

This  morning  for  the  first  time  I  discovered  that  I  was  sail- 
ing under  the  diamond  signal,  (a  white  diamond  in  a  red  field,) 
the  flag  under  which  I  have  been  taught  what  little  I  know  of 
shipping  life,  and  which  I  had  always  supposed  was  as  much  a 
part  and  parcel  of  Boston,  as  the  line  of  packets  which  has  flown 
it  for  so  long  a  time.  For  more  than  thirty  years  the  diamond 
signal  has  been  the  private  flag  of  one  of  the  most  enterprising 
and  successful  of  the  Boston  merchants,  and  for  thirty  years  it 
has  floated  from  the  mast  head  of  some  of  the  most  beautiful 
ships  (the  later  models  especially,  such  as  the  Flying  Cloud  and 
Staffordshire,)  that  the  world  ever  saw.  But  it  seems  that  it 
has  got  into  the  China  oceans,  for  it  has  been  waving  for  many 
years  under  the  patronage  of  Mr.  Head. 

We  were  glad  to  find  the  boat  waiting  for  us,  for  it  is  still 
some  twenty-five  miles  to  Foo-chow.  At  half-past  four  we  got 
into  our  craft,  and  then  another  turn  in  the  traveler's  life  was 
at  hand — Chinese  boating  on  the  Min.  It  is  indescribable.  It 
was  so  peculiar,  odd  and  strange.  Imagine  a  gondola  style  of 
craft,  thirty  feet  long  by  six  broad,  with  two  sails,  if  the  wind 
blows  fair,  and  ten  oarsmen,  if  that  fails,  carrying  out  the  oppo- 
sites  as  usual ;  they  push  instead  of  pull  the  oar,  to  the  ac- 
companiment of  a  most  singularly  inharmonious  chant,  which 


134  GUNNING,  AND  TALL  GAME. 


Tom  Moore  would  have  found  far  more  difficult  to  place  to  rythm 
and  music  than  the  far  famed  night  song  of  the  Canadian  boat- 
men. The  tide  was  against  us,  the  night  darkened,  it  began  to 
rainr  the  changing  scenery  was  hid  from  the  gaze,  and  negro 
songs  were  hushed  until  the  revolvers,  rifles  and  muskets  were 
loaded,  and  cutlasses  placed  ready  for  use  ;  for  the  beggarly 
pirates  who  haunt  these  rivers  want  nothing  better  than  to 
meet  a  single  boat,  with  two  or  three  white  men  to  plunder  and 
then  destroy  ;  but  first  the  murder,  I  believe,  and  then  the 
robbery. 

I  liked  the  change — there  was  excitement  in  it — and  with 
plenty  of  arms  and  ammunition  we  were  bold  in  our  shooting 
home,  but  save  the  shooting  of  a  long  necked,  wide  winged, 
long  legged  heron  resembling  bird,  which  your  humble  servant 
brought  down  at  a  single  shot,  and  for  which  I  did  not  receive 
that  credit  as  a  marksman  from  my  fellow  passengers  that  I 
really  deserved,  for,  judging  from  the  size  of  the  game,  it  was 
equal  to  about  seven  ducks,  three  teal  and  a  wild  goose — save 
this  chance  exploit,  we  had  no  opportunity  of  distinguishing 
ourselves.  Although  each  to  the  other  had  confidently  pledged 
himself,  when  we  saw  several  dim  lights  and  what  seemed 
muffled  oars,  manned  by  smothered  voices,  apparently  approach- 
ing nearer  and  nearer  on  their  bloody  mission,  for  eleven 
pirates  each.  But  all  went  on  as  usual.  The  dim,  mysterious 
lights  must  have  been  from  a  distant  village-,  and  the  muffled 
oars  and  smothered  voices  came  from  other  boatmen,  bound 
on  as  peaceful  an  errand  as  ourselves,  or  else  the  noise  that 
startled  us  was  the  rippling  of  the  tide,  which  rises  and  falls 
some  eighteen  feet. 

That  was  a  long  and  tedious  pull,  yet  we  all  sung  merrily, 
and  covering  ourselves  in  shawls  and  furs,  talked  ourselves  to 


CITY    OF    FOO-CHOW.  135 


sleep,  only  to  wake  up  again  at  the  chant  of  the  boatmen,  and 
see  the  dark  tops  of  the  mountains,  an  occasional  village  light, 
and  hear  the  hoarse  gurgling  of  the  murky  waters  as  the  tide 
rushed  past  our  frail  habitation.  At  last  we  reached  the 
Pagoda  anchorage,  where  the  opium  ships  were  riding  at  anchor, 
and  several  sail  loading  teas  for  the  white  man's  world.  One 
or  two  small  clippers  were  here  with  the  intoxicating  India 
plant,  which  they  had  brought  to  exchange  for  the  stimulating 
herb,  which  the  Mohawks  in  early  years  once  rejected  and 
threw  into  the  bay,  near  the  shade  of  Faneuil  Hall.  Onward 
we  rowed  past  the  low  land  paddy  plantations,  near  the  wheat 
field  shore,  through  the  floating  city  of  junks,  under  the  won- 
derful bridge  that  has  braved  the  storms  of  China  for  a  thou- 
sand years,  until  we  touch  our  landing  place,  at  two  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  when  a  sepulchral  stillness  reigned  around  in  the 
suburbs  of  the  Yiceroy's  palace. 

Again  I  am  away  inland,  near  another  monster  city,  at  hours 
too  late  for  Chinamen  out  of  the  walls,  and  know  not  where 
to  go  ;  at  least,  after  the  boatmen  had  taken  us  through  lanes 
dismal  in  the  lantern's  shade,  up  dirty,  ragged,  stone  fenced 
streets,  down  in  deeper  arches  than  before,  only  to  go  up 
again  stone  steps,  one  above  the  other,  an  immense  height, 
when,  to  our  hearts  content,  at  last  we  find  familiar  faces-1— 
familiar  because  New  England  men  ;  for,  show  me  a  decent 
fellow  anywhere  abroad  that  hails  from  home,  and  he  will  find 
it  very  difficult  to  make  me  a  stranger.  Foo-chow  at  last.  To- 
morrow, and  the  next  day,  and  the  next,  I  must  work  hard  to 
write  up  my  personal  observation  ;  but  no  more  to-day. 

I  am  astonished  to  find  Foo-chow  such  a  wonderful  place,  for 
it  was  only  in  1853  that  it  was  introduced  to  us.  The  troubles 
at  Canton,  the  rebellion  at  Shanghae,  opened  up  the  question 


136  COMMERCE    OF    FOO-CHOW. 


of  the  third  treaty  port ;  and  we  are  indebted  to  the  enterprise 
of  the  American  merchants  for  being  first  upon  the  spot. 
Scarcely  three  years  have  gone,  and  yet  look  at  its  increasing 
commerce.  Already  this  year  26,000,000  Ibs.  of  tea  have  been 
shipped,  and  the  merchants  here  anticipate  that  the  end  of  the 
season  will  show  a  total  export  of  35,000,000  Ibs.  Statistics 
should  not  be  thrown  aside  on  account  of  being  dry,  for  mer- 
cantile men  are  fond  of  what  tourists  reject,  so  you  must  pardon 
me  for  adding  a  page  of  Foo-chow  commerce,  which  will  give 
you  a  better  idea  of  the  importance  of  the  port  than  anything 
else  that  I  may  write. 

A  few  statistics  on  the  exports  of  Foo-chow-foo  : — 

EXPORTS   FROM   FOO-CHOW. 

To  Great  Britain. 

Season  1853-4,  10  vessels,  Ibs 5,959,000 

Season  1854-5,  35  vessels,  Ibs 20,493,000 

Season  1855-6,  20  vessels,  (July  to  Jan.,)  Ibs 15,601,500 

To  United  States. 

Season  1853^,     2  vessels,  Ibs 1,355,000 

Season  1854-5,  13  vessels,  Ibs .' 5,500,000 

Season  1855-6,  14  vessels,  (July  to  Jan.,)  Ibs 8,848,500 

Note — Season  1853-4,  about  300,000  pounds  of  tea  were 
exported  coastwise. 

Season  1854-5,  two  vessels  were  despatched  to  Australia, 
taking  509,000  pounds  of  tea,  and  three  vessels  out  of  the 
thirty-five  to  England  went  to  the  Continent,  taking  1,140,000 
pounds  of  tea. 

Season  1855-6,  three  vessels  have  been  despatched  to  Aus- 
tralia. Estimated  cargoes,  100,000  pounds.  To  the  Continent 
two  vessels  have  been  despatched,  taking  about  400,000,  and 
coastwise,  nearly  1,000,000  has  been  sent  during  the  season. 

The  Hamburg  ship  Alma  Olga  was  the  first  ship  that  left 


FOREIGN    POPULATION    OF    FQO-CHOW.  • 


Foo-chow  with  teas  for  a  foreign  part.  She  left  19th  of 
August,  1853.  The  American  ship  Tsar  followed  her  on  the 
27th  of  August,  both  bound  for  London.  The  last  named 
arrived  first. 

The  ship  Houqua  was  the  first  ship  to  the  United  States. 
She  left  January  16,  1854,  and  was  followed  by  the  ship  Orien- 
tal, on  the  22nd  of  February,  and  was  lost  in  Kin-pai  pass, 
25th  of  same  month.  Black  teas  are  the  principal  exports 
from  here. 

There  are  some  fifty  foreign  residents  here,  merchants,  officials 
and  missionaries.  Only  three  or  four  ladies,  however,  ornament 
this  small  community,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  and  hence  the  utter 
isolation  of  a  traveler  when  he  has  done  up  the  sigh's  ;  com- 
merce and  commissions  may  keep  a  man  here  for  some  time, 
and  officials  may  be  kept  alive  by  the  cares  of  government, 
while  the  messengers  of  the  sacred  mission  in  duty  bound  find 
contentment  in  remaining  ;  but  as  for  me,  who  have  no  such 
cares  on  the  China  border,  give  me  any  place  on  the  world's 
face  to  reside  in  but  Foo-chow.  Pleasant  and  most  agreeable, 
hospitable  and  ever  kind  were  those  whose  acquaintance  I  am 
glad  to  make,  yet  I  would  rather  live  elsewhere.  I  cannot  be 
a  hermit — more  active  life — I  must  see  something  of  the  world 
— books  and  pictures  will  do  for  a  while— love  in  a  cottage 
may  amuse  for  a  season,  but  give  me  the  intellectual  society  of 
hundreds  of  fellow  countrymen,  instead  of  units.  I  like  Foo- 
chow  for  its  energetic  youth,  but  could  not  live  there.  I  have 
always  had  a  holy  horror  of  being  buried  alive,  and  certainly  I 
know  of  no  other  place  that  seems  so  far  away,  for  there  is  no 
steam  mail,  and  you  get  your  letters  only  by  chance.  But 
I  am  again  too  fast ;  I  have  not  told  what  I  have  seen,  and 
should  reserve  my  comments  for  the  latest  sheet. 


138  YOUNG    AMERICA    ABOUT   TOWN. 


My  first  expedition  was  through  the  city,  and  it  was  one  that 
will  not  soon  leave  the  note  books  of  the  memory.  Chairs 
were  ordered,  guides  furnished,  lunch  prepared,  and  at  ten  four 
representatives  of  Young  America  started  on  the  tour.  And 
what  strange  scenes  we  saw. .  The  changes  more  rapid  than 
the  minutes,  but  each  new  feature  instructive  and  giving  room 
for  contemplation  ;  narrow  streets  obliged  the  Indian  style  of 
single  file,  and  even  then  it  was  difficult  to  get  along.  The 
shouts  of  your  coolies  to  clear  the  road  commence  at  the  point 
of  departure  and  cease  only  when  you  return,  and  yon  are  for- 
tunate if  the  sound  does  not  haunt  you  for  a  week.  It  is  con- 
tinuous, monotonous,  tiresome.  We  must  have  been  carried 
several  miles  in  this  way  before  we  reached  the  outer  gate  of 
the  city  ;  the  most  intricate  part  of  our  journey  was  over  that 
wonderful  piece  of  Chinese  masonry,  the  mammoth  bridge  of 
Waw-show. 

The  first  part  of  the  bridge,  from  the  south  side  to  the 
island  of  Chang-chow,  consists  of  nine  stone  arches,  and  is  only 
some  330  feet  long,  by  12  wide.  Here  we  came  to  the  popu- 
lous island  mentioned,  which  is  perfectly  macadamized  with 
low,  black  roofed  Chinese  buildings,  and  is  about  800  feet  wide, 
I  should  judge,  as  we  were  passed  through  the  principal  streets. 
Here,  again,  we  continued  our  way  across  another  portion  of 
this  heavy  piece  of  granite  work,  to  the  suburbs  of  the  city, 
called  Nau-tae,  a  distance  of  some  1,300  feet  more.  But  I  be- 
lieve the  upper  bridge  on  the  western  side  is  11,000  feet. 

It  was  almost  impossible  to  crowd  through  the  masses  of 
people  pushing  their  way  along,  for  the  natives  have  so  en- 
croached on  the  pathway,  little  by  little — first  a  pancake  stand, 
and  then  a  bamboo  cover — till  they  finally  get  a  decent  sized 
shop,  where  they  trade,  sleep  and  have  their  being  ;  and  thus 


CROWDS,    BUSTLE    AND    NOISE.  139 


reducing  a  bridge,  narrow  and  inconvenient  in  the  first  place, 
to  about  eight  feet  in  width.  '  In  this  small  space  we  had  to 
find  a  path  through  a  mass  of  travelers  more  dense  than  Bos- 
ton Common  on  the  evening  of  the  Fourth.  Twice  my  chair 
came  near  going  over  the  bridge,  and  once  I  was  held  bodily 
over  the  tumbling  watecs  below,  for  over  a  minute,  so  as  to  let 
an  immense  cortege,  with  a  Chinese  mandarin,  go  by.  The 
bridge  is  old  with  age,  but  strong  as  petrified  rock  ;  and  how 
•  the  architect  raised  the  immense  stones  to  their  resting  place, 
with  the  simple  machinery  of  China,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  under- 
stand. Like  the  Drudical  altars  at  Anglesea,  and  the  master- 
work  of  England's  great  engineer  over  the  Menae,  the  Foo- 
chow  bridges  will  astonish  all  who  witness  them.  Nothing 
strikes  the  stranger's  mind  more  forcibly  than  the  energetic, 
never  tiring  industry  of  the  Chinese.  All  seem  to  be  hard  at 
work — even  the  beggars  perspire  with  their  continned  calls  for 
cash.  Each  profession  by  itself,  and  every  man  in  his  place,  so 
busy  at  work,  many  of  the  operatives  do  not  raise  their  heads 
to  see  the  chair  of  the  "  Western  devil."  Go  through  a  thickly 
settled  street,  among  the  mechanics  at  Paris,  London  or  New 
York,  and  everything  you  see  done  there  you  will  find  being 
executed  in  China,  only  with  simpler  utensils,  and  in  a  slower 
manner,  but  with  great  perfection.  The  pawnbrokers  are  most 
systematic  in  their  dealings,  and  squeeze  their  customers  with 
the  avaricious  perseverance  of  a  Jew,  while  the  private  bank- 
ing establishments  are  conducted  on-  the  European  principle. 
Although  coolies  are  passing  to  and  from  the  banks  with  cash, 
the  currency  most  in  use  for  small  amounts  is  paper,  signed  and 
countersigned  with  remarkable  perfection  and  ingenuity.  I 
don't  think  much  is  lost  by  forgery.  You  see  about  as  much 


140  MEETING    A    HIGH    OFFICIAL. 


out  of  the  city  as  in — the  same  shops,  tradesmen,  and  active 
stir  of  every  day  life. 

The  walls  of  the  city  are  some  thirty  feet  in  height,  and  ex- 
pensively ornamented  over  the  several  gateways,  all  of  which 
are  composed  of  granite  foundations,  finished  off  with  brick. 
These  walls  are  some  eight  miles  in  circumference  and  there  are 
seven  gates  for  entrance. 

The  most  prominent  public  buildings  are  the  Treasury  De- 
partment, and  the  houses  (or  samuns]  of  the  various  officials  ; 
the  Confucian  temple — destroyed  some  time  since  by  fire  ;  the 
temples  of  the  "  God  of  War,"  the  "  Goddess  of  Mercy,"  the 
residence  of  the  Viceroy,  and  the  college,  jail,  &c.  The  Vice- 
roy's palace  hardly  deserves  the  name  ;  but  like  all  their  public 
residences,  they  seem  built  more  for  tinsel  and  show  than  sub- 
stantiality and  comfort. 

While  passing  along  one  of  the  widest  streets  we  suddenly 
saw  a  great  commotion  among  the  citizens,  and  a  most  abrupt 
dumping  of  my  chair  immediately  after  ;  then  came  bands  of 
Chinese  music,  officers  of  State,  on  little,  long  haired,  dirty 
white  ponies,  with  pikes  and  shields,  followed  by  a  company  of 
infantry,  one  upon  another,  in  splendid  confusion  ;  and  just  at 
this  moment  my  coolie  got  another  crack  over  the  head  with  a 
bamboo  for  being  too  anxious  to  view  the  pompous  mandarin  ; 
others  came  pouring  on — musicians  and  guards — and  soon  some 
well  dressed  chair  bearers  ;  and  then  it  was  that  I  discovered 
the  cause  of  this  immense  assemblage,  and  why  I  had  been  so 
grossly  insulted  by  having  my  chair  thrown  into  the  mud — for 
I  was  just  then  in  the  presence  of  his  most  royal  and  noble 
Excellency  the  Tartar  General  of  the  Province  and  country 
round  about. 

More  of  his  attaches  followed,  and  everything  was  again  quiet. 


SPECIMENS    OF   RARE    WORKMANSHIP.  141 


On  mentioning  this  circumstance  on  my  return  to  the  British 
Consul,  he  said  it  was  most  unusual  to  meet  the  great  officer 
away  from  his  palace,  but  that  his  want  of  courtesy  only  tends 
to  show  the  still  hostile  feeling  which  the  Mandarins,  not  imme- 
diately interested,  have  against  foreigners.  I  also  have  been 
told  that  the  prefect  has  sent  two  or  three  most  insulting  notes 
to  her  Majesty's  representative.  Save  that  unceremonious  recep- 
tion, we  met  with  no  hard  treatment  from  the  dense  crowd  that 
followed  us  through  the  palace  yard,  where  we  were  obliged  to 
leave  our  chairs,  through  Curiosity  street,  one  of  the  widest  in 
the  city.  The  Tartar  general  was  completely  wrapt  in  furs, 
and  as  he  was  paraded  past  looked  down  upon  us  with  the  great- 
est possible  contempt. 

We  examined  in  Curiosity  street  the  whole  assortment  of 
bronze  and  stone  ornaments,  and  saw  many  beautiful  specimens 
of  ivory  carving,  wood  work  and  tortoise  shell  ;  all  of  which 
show  patience,  plodding  and  ingenuity  remarkable,  for  each 
specimen  is  made  with  the  simplest  machinery.  My  companion 
made  some  purchases  of  bronze,  but  I  was  more  amused  with 
some  lacquered  ware  that  was  on  exhibition  in  one  of  the  shops, 
and  purchased  eighty  dollars  worth  of  little  boxes  (exquisitely 
ornamented,  entirely  made  of  lacquer,)  and  a  beautiful  lady's 
dressing  case,  with  more  compartments  than  cells  in  a  honey- 
comb. These  presents  for  home  are  most  valuable  because  so 
rare  ;  only  one  individual  in  the  empire  possesses  the  secret,  and 
Foo-chow  is  the  only  place  where  it  can  be  bought,  hence  the 
enormous  prices  which  are  charged  ;  for  all  that  he  manufac- 
tures that  is  not  sold  to  foreigners,  is  taken  at  the  imperial 
palace  at  Pekin,  which  accounts  for  the  independence  of  the 
artist — no  rival  in  his  Japanese  skill,  and  an  Emperor  and  Em- 
press for  patrons  !  Save  in  that  wonderful  ware,  I  think  that 


142  AN    OLD    PRIEST    IN    A    CAGE. 


the  much  celebrated  Curiosity  street  of  Foo-chow  is  overrated. 
•  One  day  soon  disappeared  in  searching  about  that  old  city, 
which  number  some  600,000  souls,  and  if  the  suburbs  are  also 
included,  possibly  a  million.  But  in  giving  a  description  of  what 
I  saw  in  Shanghae,  you  may  judge  of  my  experience  to-day. 
My  time  did  not  admit  of  my  going  over  the  grounds  of  the  old 
British  consulate,  formerly  an  old  monastery  of  much  antiquity 
and  consequent  interest.  From  this  site  the  view  of  the  city  is 
most  beautiful.  Neither  did  I  omit  the  far  famed  monastery  of 
Coae-shan,  situated  about  1,400  feet  above  the  city,  commanding 
a  most  imposing  view  for  miles  around.  The  quaint  bell  and 
immense  gong  which  are  struck  by  the  priests — the  ancient  relic 
of  Bhudah — a  whale's  tooth— an  old  priest,  said  to  be  five  hun- 
dred years  of  age,  who  lives  in  a  cage,  with  finger  nails  four 
inches  long,  and  who  looks  in  splendid  condition  for  a  man  who 
eats  nothing,  and  has  been  starving  himself  for  centuries.  The 
pond  of  tame  fish  which  the  good  fathers  feed  from  the  hand, 
and  the  singular  semi-Catholic  semi-barbarous  style  of  costume 
and  manners  would  have  amply  repaid  me  for  my  time  ;  but 
my  time  would  not  admit  of  it,  and  the  day  was  raining,  else  I 
might  have  accepted  Mr.  Hale's  mountain  chair,  so  generously 
proffered  by  the  British  Consul. 

The  peak  overhanging  the  monastery  is  2,100  feet  above  the 
sea,  and,  with  a  good  glass,  mountains,  rivers  and  villages  can 
be  seen  at  great  distances.  On  the  extreme  point,  Europeans 
who  have  ascended  the  mountain  have  left  their  mark  in  a  stone 
pile,  called  a  casin,  each  adding  one  piece  to  the  remembrance. 
An  excursion  to  the  Pih-ling  Hills  is  attractive  to  the  tourist. 

The  Ningpo  Temple  was  well  worth  the  hour  spent  in  going 
over  its  wonderful  rooms  and  galleries,  and  in  studying  the 


THE    NINGPO    TEMPLE.  143 

strange  designs  on  the  two  wonderful  columns  of  granite,  built 
by  subscription,  and  costing  them  two  almas — $10,000 — which, 
when  you  bear  in  mind  the  cheapness  of  Chinese  labor,  will  give 
you  the  best  idea  of  this  remarkable  instance  of  Chinese  sculp- 
ture. •  . 


" 


f- . 


OHAPTEB   XIV. 

MACAO,  Feb.  5,  1856. 

Navigation  in  the  Chinese  Seas — The  Horns  of  a  Dilemma — Macao — Its 
Former  Magnificence  and  Present  Desolate  Aspect — Camoens — Coolie 
Store  Houses — Chinese  Sense  of  Commercial  Honor — The  Bogue  Forts 
— Canton — The  Foreign  Cemetery — Trade  at  Hong  Kong,  &c.,  &c. 

WE  duly  arrived  at  Hong  Kong  in  two  and  a  half  days  from 
Foo-chow-foo,  in  time  to  see  the  Siamese  tribute  ship,  call  upon 
several  of  the  merchants,  write  a  chapter  on  Hong  Kong,  which 
I  mailed  by  the  Madras — and  take  our  passage  in  the  Spark 
for  this  port.  We  started,  but  it  was  only  a  start — the  miser- 
able little  screw  boat  reminded  me  of  the  time  that  I  made 
myself  a  martyr  to  humanity  and  the  underwriters,  when  taking 
off  the  shipwrecked  crew  of  the  Boston  clipper  Whistler,  on 
King's  Island,  last  June — for  she  was  bad  enough  in  smooth 
weather,  and  being  out  of  order  was  bound  over  to  repair  her 
rotten  machinery.  We  had  not  been  out  an  hour  and  a  half 
before  it  began  to  blow  a  small  typhoon,  and  the  motion  of  our 
boat  was  neither  horizontal  nor  perpendicular,  but  when- the 
two  were  given  to  find  the  base  and  hypothenuse — if  I  may 
use  a  geometrical  comparison — it  soon  became  evident  that  we 
must  anchor,  and  at  twelve  o'clock,  midnight,  we  made  fast 
under  the  shade  of  the  piratical  island  of  Lantoa.  Here  was 
a  predicament — a  lee  shore,  a  pirate  village,  an  approaching 

••»  ?          £"'  -.« 


THE    HORNS    OF    A   DILEMMA.  145 


typhoon  and  a  boat  leaking — I  dou't  know  how  many  hundred 
strokes  the  hour.  At  this  unsatisfactory  point  the  steward  at 
one  door  informed  us  that  our  grub  locker  was  empty,  just  as 
the  engineer  entered  at  the  other  to  say  that  the  coal  was 
nearly  out  ;  while  the  captain  discovered  that  we  had  lost  our 
tiller.  Pleasant,  wasn't  it  ? 

Our  position  was  by  no  means  safe — for  the  wind  was  blow- 
ing wild  cats  and  the  anchorage  none  too  good — shortly  after 
two  o'clock  it  was  calmer,  which  justified  the  captain  in  making 
another  start,  but  only  to  return  again  in  two  hours  time,  the 
pumps  all  the  time  going  at  full  speed,  and  the  steamer  in  the 
the  greatest  possible  danger.  One  of  our  party,  not  one  of  the 
reformed,  asked  for  a  glass  of  water,  there  was  none  ;  are  there 
any  blankets  ?  for  the  cabin  was  very  cold.  No — we  must 
make  the  most  of  the  night  as  we  best  could.  At  last  I  got  to 
sleep  and  there  came  such  a  succession  of  strange  unaccount- 
able noises,  I  positively  think  the  infernal  boat  was  haunted, 
fer  no  one  could  find  from  whence  they  came.  Could  any  one 
have  told  me  whether  the  boat  would  go  up" or  down,  it  would 
have  been  more  satisfactory,  but  the  glorious  uncertainty  was 
particularly  unpleasant.  In  the  morning  two  suspicious  looking 
junks  anchored  just  off  the  island — shortly  another,  and  before 
noon  two  more,  all  apparently  waiting  for  the  boat  to  go 
ashore,  for  the  news  of  a  disabled  craft  goes  like  a  prairie  fire 
over  the  robber  haunts.  In  the  afternoon  the  weather  moder- 
ated, and  by  the  blessing  of  Providence  we  managed  to  get 
the  crippled  boat  back  to  Hong  Kong.  This  is  the  well  known 
boat  that  has  made,  during  the  past  year  or  two,  a  lac  of  dol- 
lars for  the  owner,  whose  bon  homme,  hail-fellow  style  of  doing 
things  has  made  him  many  friends.  But  now,  as  the  steamer 
has  done  so  well,  I  think  the  "  spark"  should  be  extinguished. 


146  DESOLATE    ASPECT    OF    MACAO. 


The  next  morning,  with  a  calm  sea,  we  were  more  successful, 
and  at  three  o'clock  P.  M.,  reached  our  Banding  place  on  the 
Praya  Grande,  the  celebrated  promenade  to  the  quaint  old  set- 
tlement of  the  early  Portuguese  kings  —  Macao. 

Once  the  most  important  maritime  port  in  Eastern  Asia,  one 
hundred  and  fifty-two  years  ago,  the  richest  settlement  in  tliis 
part  of  the  world,  even  during  the  English  war  —  Macao  was 
the  chief  port  of  trade  for  the  merchants  of  all  nations.  Its 
present  population  will  not  exceed  30,000,  about  a  sixth  of 
which  only  are  Portuguese  ;  the  others  are  half  castes  and  na- 
tives of  China.  At  present  there  are  a  few  English  and  other 
officials  in  the  town  —  Dr.  Parker  among  the  rest  —  but,  save 
these  few,  the  place  to  me  was  more  cheerless  than  an  Egyptian 
desert. 

In  company  with  our  party  I  wandered  about  this  ancient 
relic  of  gaiety  and  splendor  now  a  disjointed  collection  of  desert- 
ed palaces  —  haggard  boat-women,  whose  beauty  disappeared 
with  their  youth  —  ugly  dames,  of  Portuguese  descent,  their  faces 
hid  in  that  most  unbecoming  garment  (not  a  mantilla,  but  I  for- 
get its  proper  name,)  a  calico  handkerchief  pinned  under  the 
chin,  giving  them  a  monkish  sulkiness.  None  had  any  preten- 
sions to  beauty.  Long,  narrow  alleys,  dark  and  gloomy  ;  de- 
caying cathedrals  and'  public  buildings  dropping  away  ;  but 
one  old  church,  the  front  of  which  only  was  standing,  was 
very  beautiful  —  a  noble  relic  of  the  architecture  of  earlier  days. 
Forts,  with  bristling  cannon  on  every  side,  that  one  war  steam- 
er could  blow  in  the  air  ;  walks,  parades,  gardens,  all  defaced 
under  the  corroding  hand  of  time.  I  saw  all  these  and  more, 
that  told  of  what  had  been,  but  not  what  is.  The  exiled  poet's 
last  home  was  my  next  resort  —  the  banished  scholar,  who  made 
himself  immortal  in  his  banishment  —  for  who  cau  read  that  beau- 


COOLIE    STORE   HOUSES.  147 


tiful  composition,  the  "  Luciad,"  without  being  reminded  of  the 
romantic  history  of  Cameons. 

To  me  the  old  palace  garden,  covering  so  many  acres  of  still 
blooming  flowers  and  foliage,  with  paths  winding  through,  quaint 
arbors  and  huge  stone  caves — more  solid  than  the  artificial  ruins 
of  Bolton  Abbey,  at  Chatsworth — was  the  most  interesting  part 
of  my  tour.  Why  dont  the  merchants  of  Canton  buy  it  for  a 
club-house  ?  I  was  never  tired  of  roaming  over  the  grounds,  but 
did  not  remain  soliloquizing  long  over  the  iron-walled  monument 
of  the  poet,  who  lived  and  died  before  Shakspere's  time.  I  did 
not  expect  to  find  such  old  magnificence  ;  but  ruins  of  ages  past 
do  not,  at  such  distance  from  Christian  lands,  increase  my  love 
of  decay.  •  From  the  top  of  one  of  the  mammoth  stone  arbors  we 
have  a  fine  view  of  the  old  town,  the  inner  and  the  outer  harbor 
—the  former  stocked  with  junks  and  lorchas  belonging  to  the 
place  ;  the  early  income  of  the  latter,  in  freights  alone,  is  said 
to  be  $150,000.  We  saw  the  islands  round  about — our  steamer 
coaling  from  the  quay — and  were  glad  to  witness  scenery  as 
romantic  as  it  was  novel.  Looking  down  upon  the  Chinese  part 
of  the  town,  I  saw  a  large  castellated  building,  the  court-yard 
of  which  was  crowded  with  human  beings,  dressed  in  white. 
My  curiosity  was  excited.  Was  it  a  hospital  ?  No.  A  lunatic 
asylum  ?  No.  What  could  it  be — a  jail,  a  charity  school,  or 
what  ?  No  one  could  tell.  We  searched  and  searched,  but  could 
not  make  the  people  understand  our  wants  ;  first  on  one  side, 
then  the  other,  and  finally  we  got  a  boat,  and  rowed  round  to 
the  portcullis,  but  even  there  was  no  admittance.  Inquiry  only 
made  us  more  curious,  but  not  more  succesful,  till  at  last  a 
friend  in  need  relieved  us  of  suspense,  and  told  us  that  of  course 
no  one  was  permitted  to  enter — it  was  a  private  institution — 
being  nothing  more  than  the  place  where  a  princely  merchant 


148  CHINESE    SENSE    OF    COMMEKCIAL   HONOR. 


here  stows  away  bis  coolies,  when  they  are  caught  in  the  coun- 
try, and  kept  there  till  they  are  ready  for  shipment.  When  I 
saw  them  from  the  garden  highlands  it  was  probably  feeding 
time.  At  Whampoa  they  use  a  hulk  for  the  purpose,  I  under- 
stand. Poor  devils — how  little  they  know  what  is  to  be  their 
fatel 

We  came  back  through  the  Chinese  town,  where  with  rest- 
less activity  mechanics  were  working  at  their  respective  trades, 
shopmen  were  doing  a  thriving  business,  while  barbers  never 
were  busier — music  and  dancing,  with  the  sing  song  artists, 
never  more  enthusiastic — and  the  pawnbrokers  were  crowded 
to  suffocation — for  to-morrow  is  the  Chinaman's  new  year,  and 
hence  the  unusual  bustle  and  excitement  in  the  town — for 
before  midnight  all  accounts  must  be  squared,  all  books  balanc- 
ed, all  bills  paid,  and  debter  and  creditor  must  meet  as  friends 
for  it  is  the  custom  of  China  to  close  up  the  papers  and  make 
a  clean  breast  of  finance  matters  at  the  commencement  of  every 
new  year.  On  every  turn  I  see  anxious  faces,  and  men  rushing 
with  some  little  trinket  to  the  Shylock's  den,  in  order  to  raise  a 
little  more  cash.  There  are  many  who  know  not  what  to  do, 
for  their  pockets  are  empty,  and  their  debts  unpaid,  and  some- 
thing must  be  done  before  the  clock  strikes  twelve,  or  else  they 
are  disgraced  in  the  eyes  of  their  countrymen.  Some  bear  the 
features  of  desperation  on  their  faces — and  hence  robbery  or 
murder,  perhaps  suicide,  ere  the  bell  tolls  the  fatal  hour.  For 
'tis  no  unusual  thing  to  resort  to  violent  measures  if  all  else  fails 
and  bills  unpaid.  What  a  strange  custom  ;  and  yet  it  is  uni- 
versally followed  from  the  sea  coast  to  the  limits  .of  Tartary. 
If  Western  nations  balanced  accounts  as  often,  there  would  be 
less  rottenness  in  finance  and  more  honesty  in  commerce.  Here, 


THE  FOREIGNER'S  GRAVEYARD.  149 


at  least,  the  idol  worshipper  teaches  a  lesson  it  were  well  if  we 
would  learn. 

I  have  seen  Macao,  but  do  not  like  it.  It  may  be  pleasant 
as' a  summer  retreat,  for  there  is  a  fine  bathing  beach  near  the 
Parsee  burial  ground,vwhich  looks  towards  the  East.  Save  the 
native  trade  commerce  has  forsaken  Macao,  and  Hong  Kong 
once  so  sickly,  is  now  the  favorite  settlement ;  and  restless  pro- 
gress marks  the  one,  when  old  age  in  its  slippery  pantaloon, 
sans  wealth  and  life,  almost,  tells  you  of  the  other.  In  the 
warm  months  all  foreign  China  flock  to  Macao.  As  a  summer 
retreat,  many  of  the  merchants  have  houses  here,  one  of  which, 
if  in  Wall  or  State  street,  would  make  a  millionaire  of  the  for- 
tunate possessor  ;  but  here  they  are  hollow,  sepulchral,  cheer- 
less, they  are  so  large  and  cold  ;  rooms  wider  than  a  dancing 
hall,  with  a  solitary  chair  in  the  centre,  and  walls  so  thin  that 
the  least  whisper  at  one  end  rings  throughout  the  house.  I  went 
to  the  foreigner's  grave-yard,  but  my  stay  was  brief,  for  it  made 
me  sad,  it  looked  so  dreary  and  so  cold.  Fellow  countrymen, 
old  and  young,  were  lying  side  by  side,  the  moss-grown  marble 
telling  of  age,  and  death,  and  merit.  Governors  and  subjects, 
the  rich  and  the  poor,  all  were  there,  crowding  each  other  for 
more  room,  for  the  burial  ground  is  full.  I  saw  the  grave  of 
young  Joseph  H.  Adams,  the  descendant  of  a  line  of  Presi- 
dent's— a  Lieutenant  of  the  Powhattan,  who  died  in  1853,  and 
many  more  from  the  same  expedition  buried  by  their  comrades. 
Gray  would  never  have  written  an  elegy  here — his  eloquence 
would  have  chilled  in  the  ink — the  atmosphere  is  so  damp. 

I  was  glad  to  get  away,  and  the  next  morning  we  again 
passed  the  Bogue  fort,  where  the  old  Admiral  of  the  Chinese 
fleet  boldly  met  his  death,  as  the  British  shot  rang  through  the 
war  junks  in  1841.  Lin  first,  and  Kishen  afterwards  gave  the 


150  THE  CHINAMAN'S  NEW  YEAR. 


orders  of  the  Emperor  ;  but  it  did  no  good,  for  China  was 
not  a  match  for  Victoria's  navy.  Once  more  steaming  up 
the  Bocca  tigris,  where  more  forts  pointed  cannon  at  us,  and 
leaving  Whampoa  behind,  we  are  again  on  the  naval  battle 
field,  opposite  the  factory  gardens.  A  few  days  in  Canton, 
looking  over  that  huge  pile  of  fanatical  worship  and  Bouze 
priests,  the  Honan  temple,  with  its  half  a  hundred  statues, 
emblematic  of  virtue  and  of  vice — its  sacred  josses  and  its 
sacred  pigs — I  don't  know  which  appeared  the  fattest — a  few 
days  more  in  Canton  hospitality,  and  excursions  to  the  celebrat- 
ed private  gardens  of  the  Hong  merchants,  Houqua,  Puntin- 
qua,  Sequa  and  several  others.  But  it  was  the  Chinaman's 
new  year,  and  all  was  still ;  every  shop  closed,  and  all  dressed 
in  holiday  garb  to  call  upon  his  neighbor,  and  be  called  upon  in 
return.  Fire  crackers,  cannon,  gongs,  bells  and  tom-toms, 
driving  one  crazy  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night — a  never 
ceasing  Bedlam,  it  was  so  noisy.  Purchasing  quite  a  collection 
of  amoy  bracelets,  beautiful  sandal-wood  fans  and  card  cases, 
writing  desks  and  ornaments  of  ivory,  and  Chinese  presents 
innumerable  for  friends  at  home,  again  I  bid  good  bye  to  Can- 
ton, the  seat  of  foreign  commerce  for  over  a  century. 

But  I  have  written  of  Canton  before,  and  you  don't  want  to 
hear  the  story  again.  I  got  out  at  Whampoa  to  take  the 
steamer  Thistle  into  Hong  Kong  as  she  came  down  in  the  even- 
ing, but  unfortunately  for  us  there  was  no  "  down"  on  the  thistle, 
and  we  had  to  go  back  to  Canton  in  a  sampan,  to  take  the 
early  morning  boat.  However,  I  saw  the  harbors  of  Canton 
and  Whampoa,  and  was  satisfied.  Here  all  the  clippers  load, 
and  if  repairs  are  wanted,  Messrs.  Cooper's  dock  will  accom- 
modate the  largest  clipper  afloat.  Other  docks  are  also  being 
finished,  and  two  or  three  steamboats  are  on  the  stocks,  but  the 


ANOTHER   FOREIGN    CEMETERY.  151 


machinery  comes  from  home  or  England.  I  am  pleased  to  see 
so  much  go-ahead-ativeness,  for  the  docks  are  really  deserving 
of  every  credit.  Another  grave-yard — good  God,  what  a  place 
— worse  than  Macao  !  Why,  Macao  is  a  Mount  Auburn  in 
comparison.  A  little  square  patch  of  stingy  soil  on  a  bleak 
and  dismal  hill  that  owns  but  a  single  tree — flat  tombs,  no  en- 
closures, not  even  a  fence  round  the  burial  place.  One  solitary 
monument  points  to  the  final  home  of  our  Minister,  Alexander 
Everett,  who,  in  1847,  was  buried  by  those  who  loved  him 
while  living,  and  honor  his  memory.  Young  Walker,  of  New 
York,  a  graduate  of  the  University  and  classmate  of  my  com- 
panion Gray,  captains  of  American  ships,  and  missionaries 
from  both  England  and  the  States,  masters  and  mates,  cooks 
and  sailors,  and  in  one  deep  grave  a  solitary  row  of  six  graves, 
whose  marble  tops  gives  the  names  of  six  young  Englishmen, 
who  were  killed  in  1841,  at  Wong-chu-kee,  by  the  Chinamen  ; 
their  bodies  were  found  mutilated,  but  none  knew  the  why  and 
wherefore  of  their  death  ;  all  side  by  side  in  an  unenclosed, 
uninviting,  inhospitable  pasture,  surrounded  by  the  paddy 
fields,  that  crowd  fairly  on  to  the  white  man's  grave.  The 
descendants  of  Alfred  and  the  sons  of  Confucius  are  sleeping 
their  long  sleep  on  the  barren  side  of  the  French  Island,  that 
does  not  even  boast  of  a  landing  place  to  the  cemetery.  The 
marble  stones  are  black  with  rust  already,  and  no  old  mortality 
to  re-letter  the  names.  A  few  more  years  the  buffalo  and  the 
primitive  plough  will  make  a  small  addition  to  the  rice  field 
paddock.  Shame  on  the  foreigners  of  Canton  for  such  neglect ! 
Can  no  better  place  be  provided  ? — for  it  is  a  dismal  abode  for 
the  last  resting  place  of  man.  Should  I  die  on  this  foreign 
shore,  throw  me  overboard — do  anything  but  bury  me  at 
Whampoa. 


152  TRADE  AT  HONG  KOKQ. 


Late  at  night  we  reached  Hong  Kong,  where  your  corres- 
pondent found  a  pamphlet,  published  by  the  Melbourne  pilots, 
which  has  just  come  up  from  Australia,  and  which  calls  Young 
America  anything  but  a  gentlemen,  for  endeavoring  through  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  to  reduce  the  exorbitant  port  charges 
of  Port  Philip.  All  right — nothing  like  opposition  to  help  a 
man  along  the  rough  paths  of  life.  Ye  poor  benighted  men  I 
accept  your  apology. 

Small  pox  at  Manilla,  and  no  ship  going  over,  so  I  must  wait 
a  more  opportune  time  to  see  the  splendid  capital  of  the  East. 
I  am  disappointed,  for  I  wanted  to  go  there  and  see  something 
of  Spanish  manners  and  Spanish  life,  and  look  at  the  sugar  and 
rice  plantations,  and  the  Spanish  girls  as  they  make  the  cheroots, 
and  the  rope  walk — the  enterprise  of  a  fellow  countrymen,  a 
friend  of  mine,  from  Salem  ;  but  I  must  give  it  up,  and  lose 
the  companionship  even  of  my  late  traveling  companion,  a  part- 
ner in  the  leading  American  house  there — a  jolly  good  fellow. 
My  regrets  go  with  him.  But  Manilla,  I  expect,  will  keep  for 
a  few  years  longer,  and  then  we'll  become  acquainted. 

Hong  Kong  is  as  busy  as  ever,  ships  arriving  and  ships  de- 
parting, and  I  have  been  so  fortunate  as  to  get  a  passage  to 
Calcutta  in  the  clipper  steamer  Fiery  Cross — Jardine's  opium 
despatch  boat — which  goes  through  to  Calcutta,  stopping  at 
Singapore,  in  less  than  a  fortnight,  and  all  for  $264.  On  the 
30th  of  December  I  landed  in  China,  and  now,  on  the  14th  of 
February,  I  leave  it  again  behind  me,  having  spent  six  weeks 
of  restless  activity  at  Shanghae,  Fouchow,  Canton,  Macao  and 
Hong  Kong,  from  all  of  which  ports  I  have  sent  yo,u  the  im- 
pressions of  a  fresh  man  in  China.  On  my  passage  down  you 
must  pardon  me  for  taxing  you  with  a  concluding  chapter  on 
China  and  its  people,  which  I  shall  mail  at  Calcutta. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

ON  BOARD  STEAM  SHIP  FIERY  CROSS.      ) 
Bound  from  Singapore  to  Calcutta.  ) 

February  22,  1856. 

Books  in  China — Discordancy  of  Views  in  Relation  to  its  Religious  Fu- 
ture— History  of  the  Opium  Trade — Xoble  Declaration  of  the  Em- 
peror— Interesting  Statistics  of  the  Trade — A  Practical  Subject  for 
English  Philanthropy — Precept  'and  Practice,  <fec. 

I  HAVE  not  the  pleasure  of  knowing  Mr.  Thomas  Taylor 
Meadows,  but  his  250  paged  book  on  China,  published  in  1847, 
was  one  of  the  first  works  that  fell  in  ray  way  while  reading 
upon  the  Celestials,  and  a  more  unsatisfactory  volume,  after 
such  a  flourish  of  trumpets  in  the  preface,  I  have  not  found 
among  the  numerous  writers  on  the  country.  One  of  the  posi- 
tions which  he  takes  is,  that  no  man  has  a  right  to  print  his 
views  of  a  country  unless  he  thoroughly  understands  its  lan- 
guage. And  hence  he  gives  us  a  dry  dissertation  on  the  pro- 
nunciation of  words  as  uninteresting  to  the  body  of  readers  as 
it  is  egotistical.  Now,  I  must  admit  that  I  have  never  given 
that  attention  to  the  study  of  the  Chinese  language  that  I  have 
to  my  commission  account,  and  having  been  only  six  weeks 
among  the  people  will  of  course  be  pardoned  for  losing  myself 
in  the  confusion  of  dialects  ;  yet  I  have,  nevertheless,  exercised 
the  privilege  of  a  tourist  who  prefers  a  railway  carriage  to  a 


154  BOOKS    IN    CHINA. 


stage  coach,  and  who,  while  he  does  not  hesitate  to  give  his 
opinions  regarding  other's  writings,  asks  no  favor  for  his  own. 

Were  I  to  stop  in  China  as  many  years  as  I  have  days,  I 
doubt  whether  I  should  distract  my  mind  by  placing  these  un- 
couth characters  in  my  memory  ;  and  yet,  for  the  purposes  of 
commerce  and  literature,  it  is  a  praiseworthy  study  for  those 
who  have  the  taste  and  time  to  devote  to  it.  I  only  speak  of 
my  own  fancy  ;  and  being  desirious  to  sum  up,  in  a  concluding 
note,  the  substance  of  what  I  have  said  to  yon  from  every  port 
I  have  visited — a  retrospective  look,  as  well  as  to  touch  on 
passing  events,  and  what  may  happen  before  three-quarters  of 
the  century  has  gone,  Mr.  Meadow's  admonition  would  have 
stopped  me,  did  I  not  feel  in  relation  to  my  views  as  the  old 
lady  did  of  her  children,  that  they  were  very  homely,  to  be 
sure,  but  they  are  mine. 

Roaming  about  from  port  to  port  and  place  to  place,  as  I 
have  been,  since  my  departure  from  the  golden  lands  of  Aus- 
tralia, trying  to  add  another  chapter  to  my  little  stock  of 
knowledge,  I  make  a  practice  of  reading  the  several  publica- 
tions regarding  the  country  I  may  be  in,  so  that  I  may  fix 
more  forcibly  in  my  memory  many  things  that  one's  eye  sight 
fails  to  discover.  Hence,  everything  written  on  China  that  was 
in  my  reach  I  have  hastily  run  over,  and  form  my  opinion  on 
what  I  read  as  well  as  what  I  see  ;  but  it  so  happens  that  the 
more  I  read  the  more  I  get  confused,  and  the  more  I  converse 
on  the  subject  in  question,  the  less  I  seem  to  know  ;  for  th$ 
clashing  of  opinions  and  statements  in  the  books  are  almost  as 
confusing  as  the  contradictory  assertions  of  a  dinner  table  in- 
quiry. On  minor  things,  most  of  the  able  writers  agree,  but 
on  many  important  points  they  widely  differ.  Take  the  mis- 
sionary cause — one  man  argues  of  the  good  that  has  been  ac- 


DISCORDANCY    OF    VIEWS.  155 


complished  ;  another  opposes  the  argument,  and  asks  for  facts 
instead  of  assertion.  One  writer  will  enter  into  a  lengthy 
essay  to  prove  that  Tai-ping-wang,  the  rebel  chief,  is  a  Chris- 
tian, while  his  friend  labors  equally  hard  to  show  why  he  calls 
him  the  pirate  leader  of  the  age.  The  Bishop  of  Victoria,  in 
an  able  article  in  the  Calcutta  Review,  discoursed  most  enthu- 
siastically, in  1853,  regarding  the  nature  of  the  present  rebel- 
lions— traces  their  origin,  tracks  their  progress,  and  jumps  at 
the  result — while  he  points  out  as  inevitable  the  overthrow  of 
the  Mantchou  Tartar  dynasty,  and  the  consequent  universal  in- 
troduction of  the  Christian  religion  throughout  the  empire  of 
the  Celestials.  Dr.  Parker,  our  Commissioner,  and  most  of  the 
missionary  talent  of  the  several  ports  endorsed  these  views  ; 
while  the  merchants,  the  editors  of  the  China  journals,  the 
officials  (save  Sir  John  Bowring  and  a  few  more)  crossed 
swords  in  the  argument,  pointing  out  the  difference  between 
robbers  and  the  Divine  influence. 

The  same  contrast  may  be  seen  in  discussing  the  opium  trade. 
The  missionary  writers  see  the  certain  destruction  of  the  Asiatic 
races  in  the  increasing  consumption  of  this  Indian  poison — and 
that  their  Christain  labors  are  fruitless — their  exertions  fall  to 
the  ground,  so  long  as  the  drug  is  smuggled  into  the  country. 
Oftentimes  say  they,  and  certainly  with  some  degree  of  logic, 
we  are  asked  by  the  more  intelligent  of  the  Chinese,  "  why  do 
you  not  use  your  influence  with  your  own  countrymen  to  ob- 
serve our  laws,  instead  of  daily  breaking  them,  and  first  stop 
your  people  from  bringing  that  which  ruins  us  to  our  shores,  be- 
fore you  come  among  us  to  change  our  hereditary  institutions 
for  your  strange  doctrines  ?  "  Certainly  a  most  unanswerable 
fact.  The  merchants,  on  the  other  hand,  most  of  whom  directly 
or  indirectly  are  engaged  in  the  profits  of  the  drug,  shield 


156  HISTORY  OF  THE   OPIUM  TRADE. 


themselves  by  the  gin  palace  argument,  if  we  do  not  carry  on 
the  trade,  the  Chinamen  and  Americans  will.  Even  now,  say 
they,  the  best  part  of  it  has  gone  into  the  hands  of  the  Parsees, 
who  living  economically,  and  doing  business  for  nothing,  are 
taking  our  bread  from  our  mouths.  And,  again,  if  we  did  not 
bring  it  from  India,  the  Chinamen  having  once  got  a  taste  of 
it,  will  produce  it,  as  they  are  now  doing,  in  their  own  country. 
Once  more,  the  evil,  they  are  afraid,  is  greatly  exaggerated — 
even  the  missionaries  themselves  are  at  loggerheads.  Look  at 
the  seven  letters  on  the  opium  trade,  published  in  the  British 
Banner,  last  May,  under  the  signature  of  a  "  Friend  of  China," 
where  they  assert  that  there  are  now  some  fifteen  millions  of 
opium  smokers,  and  at  least  a  million  souls  annually  added  to 
the  fearful  list,  while  Medhurst,  an  able  writer,  in  an  elaborate 
treatise  on  the  subject,  in  the  Shanghae  almanac  of  last  year, 
says,  that  two  to  three  millions,  at  the  most,  indulge  in  opium 
and  he  supports  his  position  by  figures.  The  latter  writer  has 
the  support  of  the  merchants,  and  they  consider  his  views  a  fair 
exposition  of  the  question.  Dr.  Medhurst  is  one  of  the  oldest 
of  the  London  Mission  Society,  and  being  a  man  of  unmis- 
takable talent,  I  can  but  think  that  his  statement  is  the  cor- 
rect one,  more  especially  as  it  is  worked  out  with  such  collateral 
proof. 

While  on  this  question,  there  can  be  no  harm  in  briefly  tracing 
the  history  of  the  opium  trade,  from  the  notes  which  I  have 
made  from  the  several  authors.  The  first  opium  which  the  Chi- 
nese got  a  taste  of  was  introduced  by  Col.  Watson  and  Vice 
President  Wheeler,  from  Bengal,  about  the  year  1700.  These 
gentlemen,  then,. may  be  considered  the  fathers  of  the  immense 
trade  which  forms  nearly  one-half  of  the  entire  foreign  commerce 
of  China.  During  the  next  half  century  the  import  did  not 


V' 

OPIUM    PROHIBITED  AS  AN  ARTICLE  OF  SALE.  157 


exceed  200  chests  of  a  picul  each,  but  in  the  year  1761 — in 
Lord  Chatham's  day — it  reached  1,000  chests,  the  Portuguese 
having  the  trade  entirely  to  themselves,  at  the  then  flourishing 
port  of  Macao.  Six  years  later,  that  indefatigable  body  of 
merchants,  the  East  India  Company  started  their  first  venture, 
and  owned  the  first  receiving  ship  near  Cumsingmoon.  The 
treasury  of  the  company  was  at  Canton,  and  the  proceeds  of 
the  armed  ship  sent  out  from  Bengal  in  1781,  entirely  laden 
with  opium,  was  passed  to  the  credit  of  that  governmeut.  The 
first  receiving  ship  at  Whampoa  was  about  the  period  of  Lord 
McCartney's  embassy  to  Pekin,  1194,  and  then  the  Chinamen 
began  to  enact  prohibitory  laws,  for  previous  to  the  commence- 
ment of  the  present  century  it  was  admitted  at  the  China  Cus- 
tom House  as  a  medical  drug,  under  a  duty  equal  to  six  cents 
per  pound.  The  import  increased  gradually,  and  at  that  time 
(1800)  amounted  to  2,000  chests  ;  which  so  alarmed  the  Im- 
perial government,  a  stopper  was  at  once  put  on  in  the  shape  of 
its  entire  prohibition  as  an  article  of  sale  or  import,  and  no 
man  under  penalty  of  death  was  allowed  to  cultivate  the  poppy 
in  his  Majesty's  dominion.  These  laws  have  not  been  repealed, 
but  the  government  has  never  been  able  to  execute  them. 

In  1809  the  Hong  merchants  gave  security  that  no  opium 
should  be  brought ;  but  notwithstanding  these  precautions  some 
5,000  chests  found  their  way  through  Macao  and  Whampoa, 
in  1820  ;  and  the  next  year  the  Governor  of  Canton  was  dis- 
charged in  disgrace  for  remissness  of  duty  ;  more  stringent  acts 
obliged  the  merchants  to  resort  to  all  the  dodges  of  the  smug- 
gler, bribery,  arms  and  secresy.  Money  was  paid  the  merchant 
at  his  counting  house,  and  the  Chinese  purchaser,  with  boats 
armed  to  the  teeth,  got  the  needful  from  out  of  the  storeships 
in  the  night  time.  Then  came  the  age  of  opium  clippers  and 


wv 

158        PUNISHMENT  FOR  DEALING  IN  THE  DRUG. 


romantic  adventures— the  time  of  great  risks  for  great  profits. 
About  the  time  of  Louis  Phillip's  debut  on  the  French  throne, 
other  edicts  were  proclaimed  year  after  year,  stronger  and 
stronger,  1831,  1832,  and  again  in  1834  the  Imperial  Cabinet 
then  drew  forth  their  proclamations  against  foreigners  for  bring- 
ing it,  and  Chinese  for  using  that  which  was  undermining  all 
their  happiness  ;  and  yet  in  the  face  of  all  this  the  import  had 
so  multiplied,  that  in  1836,  35,000  chests  were  sold  in  China. 
We  have  now  reached  the  period  of  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able events  of  its  history.  The  exciting  discussion  among  the 
chief  governors  and  ministers  of  the  Empire,  comprising  the 
most  talented  statesmen  of  the  land,  for  and  against  its  being 
a  legalized  trade  ;  but  its  opponents  were  too  strong  for  those 
who  recommended  it,  and  the  former  came  off  victorious,  while 
many  of  the  latter  were  disgraced  by  the  Emoeror  for  express- 
ing such  opinions. 

At  once  measures  were  taken  more  decided  than  anything 
before,  even  to  the  execution  of  those  who  were  engaged  in 
smuggling.  Foreign  merchants  engaged  in  the  traffic  were 
notified  from  government  to  leave  the  country.  In  1848  a 
Chinaman  was  beheaded  at  Macao,  and  another  towards  the 
end  of  the  year  near  the  foreign  residences  at  Canton,  and 
shortly  after  another  Chinaman  was  executed  in  the  factory 
gardens — all  for  dealing  in  the  drug.  Some  others  inland  had 
their  lips  cut  off,  and  other  cruelties  were  resorted  to  in  order 
to  stop  the  use  of  it  in  the  kingdom,  and  yet  all  the  while  the 
opium  merchants  were  still  rolling  in  the  drug.  We  are  all  of 
us  more  familiar  with  its  history  since  then.  Extraordinary 
powers  were  given  to  the  celebrated  Commissioner,  (Lin,  who 
arrived  in  Canton  in  March,  1839.  It  is  a  short  story  ;  Lin's 
energy — letters  to  foreign  residents — bond  from  them  in  return, 


NOBLE  DECLARATION  OF  THE  EMPEROR.         159 


swearing  they  would  never  again  engage  in  it,  which  was  never 
kept,  the  seizure  of  23,283  chests  and  their  destruction  in  twenty 
days,  by  lime  and  salt,  nearly  $10,000,000  in  value.  The  protests 
of  the  merchants,  the  activity  of  the  East  India  Company,  the 
arrival  of  the  British  fleet — the  prowess  of  the  British  army  in 
the  far  famed  opium  war,  where  millions  of  Chinese  were  sent 
to  meet  their  ancestors,  and  China  opened  up  to  foreign  com- 
merce by  the  treaty  of  Nankin,  in  1842.  This  war  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  settled  the  question,  and  the  trade  has  gone  on  from 
200  chests,  in  1756,  to  70,000  or  80,000  in  1856 — from  one 
million  dollars  then  to  forty  million  dollars  now.  But  now 
there  is  little  said  about  it  in  the  Pekin  Gazette,  and  the  traffic 
still  moves  on.  The  late  Emperor,  when  again  asked  to  legal- 
ise the  trade  in  1844,  made  use  of  strong  language  in  his  re- 
markable reply — "  Yes,  I  cannot  prevent  the  introduction  of 
the  growing  poison ;  gain  seeking  and  corrupt  men  will,  for 
profit  and  sensuality,  defeat  my  wishes ;  but  nothing  will  in- 
duce me  to  derive  a  revenue  from  the  vice  and  misery  of  my 
people. 

Among  the  several  writers  who  have  taken  up  the  subject, 
none  seem  to  defend  it ;  all  unite  in  decrying  it ;  for,  morally, 
what  can  be  said  in  its  favor  ?  When  speaking  of  its  evil 
effects,  some  of  the  literary  Chinamen  became  most  eloquent 
against  it.  None  are  more  able  to  argue  and  strike  the  reason 
than  the  Chinese  scholar.  Read  that  wonderful  letter  of  that 
J  acobiu  Robespierre — the  statesman  Lin — when  writing  to  the 
Queen,  in  which  he  says  :  "  To  seek  one's  own  advantages  by 
others  injury  is  abhorrent  to  man's  nature,  and  opposed  to  the 
ways  of  Heaven,"  and  using  many  arguments,  the  language  of 
which  Webster  or  Burke  would  not  have  blushed  at.  It  would 
be  amusing,  were  it  not  so  sad,  to  read  the  opinions  of  some  of 


160  FATAL   EFFECTS   OF   OPIUM   SMOKERS. 


the  Goughs  and  Hawkins  who  lecture  on  the  effects  of  the  drag. 
Let  me  copy  a  pithy  paragraph  from  a  letter  of  February 
1854,  from  statements  made  by  King-Shan,  a  distinguished 
scholar  of  Nankin,  in  1836  : — 

At  first,  the  smokers  of  opium  merely  wish  to  follow  the  fash- 
ion of  the  day,  but  in  the  sequel  the  poison  takes  effect,  the 
habit  becomes  fixed,  the  sleeping  smokers  are  all  like  corpses — 
lean  and  haggard  as  demons.  Such  are  the  injuries  it  does  to 
life.  It  throws  whole  families  into  ruin,  dissipates  every  kind 
of  property  and  destroys  man  himself.  There  cannot  be  a 
greater  evil  than  this.  In  comparison  with  arsenic  I  pro- 
nounce it  tenfold  the  greater  poison,  for  those  who  smoke  the 
drug  are  injured  in  many  ways.  It  exhausts  the  animal  spirits, 
hence  the  youth  who  smoke  shorten  their  days  ;  and  those  in 
middle  age  will  hasten  the  termination  of  their  years.  It  im- 
pedes the  regular  performance  of  business — it  wastes  the  flesh 
and  blood — flesh  is  gradually  worn  away  and  consumed  from  the 
robust  who  smoke,  and  their  skin  hangs  down  like  bags.  The 
faces  of  the  weak  who  smoke  are  black  and  cadaverous,  and  their 
bones  are  naked  as  billets  of  wood.  It  renders  the  person  ill 
favored,  mucus  flows  from  their  nostrils  and  tears  from  their 
eyes — their  very  bodies  are  putrid  and  rotten.  It  promotes 
obscenity,  it  discovers  secrets,  it  violates  laws,  it  attacks  the 
vitals,  it  destroys  life — when  he  has  pawned  all  else  for  opium 
he  will  pawn  his  wife  and  sell  his  daughter. 

Powerful  language.  He  even  beats  Pollok  when  describing 
pleasure.  This  position,  I  imagine,  only  describes  the  delirium 
tremens  of  the  day.  Where  man  sells  his  bones  to  the  doctor 
and  his  soul  to  the  devil  ;  another  of  their  learned  men  says, 
that  the  first  effect  is  not  felt,  but  after  a  little — 

The  constitution  gives  way,  the  interior  gradually  decays, 


INTERESTING    STATISTICS    OP   THE   TRADR.  161 


thousands  of  worms  and  maggots  gnaw  the  intestines  ;  their 
faces  become  discolored,  their  teeth  black,  their  appearance  like 
charcoal,  their  shoulders  rise  to  their  ears,  their  necks  slink  in, 
their  throats  protrude,  and  their  whole  frame  is  hateful  as  that 
of  a  ghost  or  devil ;  and,  in  fine,  they  continue  to  buy  their 
bane  until  death  overtakes  them  in  the  act  of  taking  one  more 
puff. 

I  have  introduced  these  two  paragraphs  to  show  the  style  of 
composition,  and  what  arguments  were  laid  before  the  Emperor, 
when  the  discussion  was  at  its  height.  No  wonder  the  old  man 
stood  unnerved  at  the  appeal,  for  he  had  lost  a  son — a  favorite 
boy — who  smoked  himself  to  death.  If  he  could  not  keep  it 
out  of  the  Imperial  palace,  it  certainly  would  be  difficult  to 
shut  it  out  of  the  gates  of  the  empire. 

The  drain  of  silver  from  the  nation  during  the  last  thirty 
years,  had  there  been  no  teas,  or  silk  in  return,  would  have  been 
some  six  hundred  millions  of  dollars  ! 

In  a  memorial  to  the  Emperor,  the  Chinese  show  the  annual 
drain  from  the  Imperial  treasury,  to  have  been  from 

1829  to  1831 $24,000,000 

1831  to  1834 28,000,000 

1834  to  1838 40,000,000 

and  even  if  the  former  was  exaggerated,  statistics  show  that  the 
latter  average  is  about  the  annual  outlay  at  the  present  time. 
The  question  of  whether  China  could  have  taken  more  cottons 
and  imports  from  England  or  ourselves  had  they  not  expended 
so  much  for  opium,  is  problematical. 

From  what  I  can  see  you  might  as  well  keep  back  the 
waves  of  the  sea  (which  Sydney  Smith,  when  he  first  intro- 
duced that  amiable  lady,  Dame  Partington,  to  the  world,  failed 
to  do,)  as  to  stop  the  use  of  opium.  When  segars  are  abolished 


162  SUBJECT    FOR   ENGLISH    PHILANTHROPY. 

and  tobacco  in  any  form  is  not  used  as  a  stimulant — when  in- 
toxicating beverages  are  swept  from  the  races  of  the  earth — 
when  slavery  is  no  more  and  the  world  as  pure  as  when  created, 
the  opium  trade,  foreign  and  domestic,  may  prove  abortive ; 
but  until  then  I  doubt  if  all  the  books  which  are  published,  ar- 
guments which  are  advanced,  and  laws  which  are  enacted,  will 
be  the  means  of  keeping  opium  out  of  China.  The  natives 
have  got  a  taste  for  it ;  and  if  they  cannot  get  it  from  India, 
they  can  cultivate  it  in  any  quantity  in  their  own  empire.  Some 
confidently  assert  that  even  now  they  produce  some  40,000 
chests  per  year  ;  and  as  the  love  of  it  increases,  in  spite  of  the 
government,  they  will  continue  to  raise  it  or  import  it  from 
those  who  do.  The  East  India  Company  have  the  credit  of  all 
the  iniquity,  but  so  long  as  they  continue  to  derive  $18,000,000 
revenue  per  annum,  what  do  they  care  for  newspaper  squibs 
and  Buncom  editorials  ?  But  China  does  not  take  it  fast 
enough,  for  even  now  they  have  and  are  establishing  retail 
shops  over  the  Singapore  part  of  the  Indian  Empire,  and  the 
beautiful  rice  fields  and  fertile  lands  of  Hindostan  must  give 
way  for  the  growth  of  the  poppy,  after  sufficient  have  been  left 
for  the  food  of  the  nation.  As  a  question  of  broad  and  liberal 
philanthropy  England  once  expended  some  $100,000,000  in 
abolishing  West  Indian  slavery.  I  wonder  if  her  benevolence 
will  ever  reach  the  East  Indian  Continent  ?  Parliament  may 
consider  it.  We  will  wait  a  little  longer. 

In  a  letter  from  Singapore  I  think  I  alluded  to  the  rather 
startling  fact  that  almost  the  whole  revenue  of  that  island  of 
the  company's  was  derived  from  the  sale  of  the  license  to  the 
opium  farmers — some  $200,000.  Take  the  traffic  away  from 
the  commerce  of  China,  and  some  of  those  beautiful  palaces 
where  the  merchant  so  hospitably  entertains  the  stranger,  would 


PRECEPT  AND  PRACTICE.  163 


have  to  close  their  doors.  Even  now  the  trade  is  not  what  it 
was  ;  fortunes  are  not  made  in  one  successful  operation,  as 
years  ago.  Then,  most  every  roll  was  a  strike  ;  but  of  late 
years  it  is  difficult  to  get  a  spare.  There's  no  use  of  abusing 
those  who  deal  in  it ;  you  may  as  well  black-ball  the  rumseller. 
There's  not  so  much  difference  as  one  may  imagine.  Holland 
gin,  on  the  North  American  Indian,  or  Patua  or  Malwa  on  the 
Asiatic — each  carries  destruction  with  excess.  If  you  blame 
one,  blame  all — and  don't  save  your  correspondent,  for  his  first 
foreign  venture  was  a  shipment  of  four  tins  of  the  precious  stuff 
in  the  old  ship  Eliza  Warwick  to  China,  in  1846,  an  invoice  of 
sixty  dollars  squeezed  out  of  a  clerkship  salary  in  a  Boston 
firm,  and  if  those  who  now  trade  in  it  are  not  more  successful 
than  I  was,  they  will  never  make  their  fortunes,  for  it  almost 
made  me  bankrupt,  besides  getting  a  severe  rebuke  from  my 
commander-in-chief  for  indulging  at  my  early  time  of  life  in  the 
opium  trade  I  I  think  it  only  justice  to  state  that  the  ship- 
ment would  have  been  more  successful  had  not  the  drug  en- 
tirely evaporated  before  it  reached  Canton. 


OHAPTEE    XYI. 

ON  BOARD  STEAMSHIP  FIERY  CROSS, 
/  FROM  SINGAPORE  TO  CALCUTTA,  FEB.  24, 1856. 

The  Philosophy  of  Chinese  History — The  Lessons  which  it  Teaches — 
Secret  Political  Societies  in  the  Celestial  Empire — Their  Objects  and 
Influence — The  War  of  Great  Britain  with  China — Its  Benefits  to  the 
Commerce  of  the  World — Origin  of  the  Present  Rebellion — Its  True 
Causes  Explained — Christianity  Not  its  Mainspring,  as  is  Erroneously 
Supposed — Comparison  between  the  Romish  and  Protestant  Missiona- 
ries— Resemblance  between  the  Romish  and  Bhudhist  Forms  of  Wor- 
ship— -Extraordinary  Spread  of  Education  amongst  the  Chinese  Popu- 
lation— National  Characteristics,  <fec.,  <fec. 

FOUR  hundred  millions  of  human  beings,  whose  ancestral  his- 
tory shows  civilization  before  the  Western  world— whose  wond- 
erful country  reaches  some  three  thousand  miles  from  north  to 
south,  and  two  thousand  miles  from  east  to  west,  covering  the 
broad  expanse  of  some  five  or  six  millions  of  square  miles,  of 
mountain  ranges,  and  fertile  valleys,  lakes  and  rivers — the 
immensity  of  which  is  a  source  of  astonishment  to  all  who  make 
the  inquiry  ;  whose  religion  is  older  than  the  Pope  or  the 
Protestant's  Bible,  coming  down  from  ages  before  Bhudah,  (the 
traditionary  prince  who  knew  every  language,  whose  virgin  wife 
possessed  thirty-two  virtues,  and  lived  a  thousand  years  before 
our  Saviour's  time)  though  Confucius,  that  wonderful  scholar, 
moralist  and  divine,  whose  light  commenced  to  shine  some  six 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    CHINESE    HISTORY.  165 

'     £ 

centuries  before  the  Christian's  era,  and  whose  doctrines  have 
found  their  way  into  more  temples,  households  and  hearts  than 
any  other  sage  or  imposter  that  ever  wrote  a  composition,  not 
forgetting  Mahomet,  through  Mencius  a  young  man  when  Confu- 
cius was  getting  gray,  whose  strange  habits  and  manners  are 
taught  the  rising  generation  of  the  West,  in  their  earliest  les- 
son at  school — whose  enormous  productions  of  teas  and  silks,  of 
porcelain  and  of  ivory,  of  cotton,  of  rice,  and  of  articles  of  orna- 
ment and  luxury,  more  than  sufficient  for  their  own  wants,  have 
done  so  much  of  late  years — the  former  two  particularly — for 
Anglo-Saxon  and  European  commerce — I  say  that  such  a 
wonderful  race,  equal  to  nearly  one-half  the  population  of  the 
world,  governed  by  one  head,  and  governed  far  better  than  some 
modern  nations,  scattered  over  a  country  whose  magnificent 
public  works  startle  the  beholder  into  admiration  for  their  very 
magnitude,  may  well  prove  the  subject  of  the  deepest  contem- 
plation. 

Any  one  who  has  been  even  at  the  outer  gate  of  such  an 
immense  Empire — termed,  in  the  flowery  language  of  the  peo- 
ple, that  of  the  "  Ten  Thousand  Kingdoms,  and  of  the  Four 
Seas  under  the  Heavens"  and  lived  and  moved,  even  for  a  short 
time,  with  them  and  among  them,  and  visited  some  of  their 
chief  sea  coast  cities,  will  have  food  for  much  reflection.  The 
geographical  picture  book  of  the  primary  school  makes  one 
familiar  with  the  mammoth  border  wall,  now  twenty  centuries 
old — which,  however,  was  no  more  credit  to  the  Chinese  con- 
queror of  the  border  races  than  the  grand  canal — that  cele- 
brated work  made  by  millions  of  men,  and  costing  millions  of 
dollars — the  great  national  highway  of  the  Middle  Kingdom, 
was  creditable  to  its  originator  and  the  Mongol  monarch  who 
completed  it.  Each  astonish,  both  captivate  the  mind,  for  their 


166  PROLIFIC    RESOURCES    OF   THE    KINGDOM. 


very  greatness.  A  thousand  years  ago  our  own  ancestors,  be- 
fore Alfred,  could  not  boast  such  civilization  as  the  natives  of 
Asiatic  China.  Even  in  the  thirteenth  century  feudal  England 
and  enlightened  Europe  laughed  at  the  glaring  statements  of  the 
great  merchant  navigator,  Marco  Polo,  when  he  returned  from 
his  long  residence  in  the  imperial  dominions  ;  and  even  later 
the  same  wise  men  would  not  give  credence  to  the  wild  stories 
of  the  sailor  son  of  the  great  Yenetian  discoverer. 

This  was  an  important  time  in  the  history  of  the  nation,  for 
it  was  about  the  commencement  of  the  Ming  dynasty,  which  for 
three  centuries — from  1368  to  1644 — enriched  the  Empire  with 
those  great  sea  walls,  so  massive  and  so  strong  ;  and  canals, 
whose  utility  is  still  acknowledged  ;  and  bridges  of  solid  mason- 
ry, and  other  extensive  public  works,  which  have  been  so  instru- 
mental in  developing  the  prolific  resources  of  the  kingdom. 
Pagodas  on  the  hill  side,  towering  over  forest  trees,  and  more 
often  on  the  mountain's  summit ;  temples  of  rich  and  elaborate 
workmanship,  and  Bhudhist  monasteries,  that  tell  of  long  years 
of  patient  toil — all  were  constructed  during  this  reign. 

But  it  is  a  mistake  to  imagine  that,  politically,  during  the 
prosperous  Era,  all  was  quiet  ;  for  China,  from  the  first,  has 
signally  been  convulsed  with  internal  revolution.  Between  the 
years  420  (says  Hue,  in  his  interesting  account  of  his  tour 
through  the  heart  of  the  Empire),  when  Gaul  was  entered  by 
the  Franks,  and  1644,  the  year  of  the  Tartar  conquest,  the 
age  of  the  Fourteenth  Louis,  a  period  of  some  twelve  hundred 
years,  civil  wars  and  ambitious  statesmen  changed  the  reigning 
dynasty  fifteen  separate  times ;  but  France  all  the  while  had 
only  changed  but  twice,  says  the  French  writer.  Before  the 
war  western  nations  knew  but  little  and  cared  less  what  took 
place  from  day  to  day,  and  hence  few  thought  of  the  fearful 


SECRKT    POLITICAL    SOCIETIES.  167 


political  storm,  during  the  period  above  mentioned,  that  occa- 
sionally swept  through  the  country  ;  but  in  1644  the  boldness 
and  skill  of  the  nomadic  tribes — although  the  odds  were  so 
much  against  them— gave  the  Tartars  China,  for  they  crossed 
the  walls,  conquered  the  celestial  army,  with  the  help,  most 
likely,  of  some  of  its  own  officers,  took  the  country,  and  made 
Pekin  one  of  the  chief  cities  of  the  place — after  Nankin,  the 
capital  of  the  Empire.  This  was  an  age  of  commerce  and  of 
change.  England  was  hard  at  work  in  India  ;  Holland  was 
overrunning  the  native  princes  of  the  Indian  Archipelago  ;  the 
Portuguese  were  getting  a  foothold  in  Macao  ;  the  Spanish 
were  introducing  their  iron  rule  to  the  islanders  on  the  Philip- 
pine ;  and  the  Pilgrims,  were  slowly  driving  the  aboriginal 
American  further  inland  ;  while  Tartary  was  conquering  China. 
They  succeeded,  and  the  long  tail  and  shaven  head,  which  the 
modern  Chinamen  is  so  fond  of,  is  only  a  badge  of  servitude — 
the  emblem  of  the  Mantchow  monarch  to  show  a  conquered 
race. 

In  1644,  the  Tartars  overthrew  the  existing  monarch,  and  in 
spite  of  all  opposition  Emperors  have  died,  and  their  successors 
have  filled  their  places  ;  cabinets  have  faded  away  and  been  re- 
placed again  ;  revolutions  have  been  made,  and  rebel  leaders 
executed,  and  yet  the  Mantchows  still  hold  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment. Even  the  late  king,  Taou-Kwang,  in  1850,  was  laid  in 
his  grave,  and  the  present  boy  emperor  was  placed  in  the  Impe- 
rial palace  without  the  least  political  movement.  But,  never- 
theless, secret  societies  increase  in  magnitude,  and  the  most 
sacred  oaths  are  taken  to  overthrow,  when  the  opportunity  oc- 
curs, the  reigning  dynasty  ;  and  the  cry  of  the  political  China- 
man, which  is  uppermost  in  his  mind,  but  which  he  dare  not 
express,  is  death  to  the  Tartar.  The  Dragon,  the  Triad,  and 


168-  WAR   OF    GREAT    BKITAIN    WITH    CHINA. 


other  party  societies  are  ever  active  for  their  respective  leaders. 
Even  at  Singapore,  they  had  to  fight  it  out  some  eighteen 
months  ago — a  political  squabble  that  ended  in  great  loss  of 
life — and  had  not  the  Europeans  interfered,  like  the  bloody 
fight  between  the  Scottish  clans  in  the  "  Fair  Maid  of  Perth," 
they  would  have  conquered  each  other  or  died. 

Tracing,  as  I  have  done,  a  running  history  of  the  nation's 
politics,  I  should  not  have  omitted  the  period  of  the  English 
war,  or,  as  the  Chinese  term  it,  that  of  the  Southern  Barba- 
rians, or  the  Red  Headed  Devils  of  the  West.  I  have,  how- 
ever, introduced  it  into  the  opium  chapter  of  yesterday's  letter, 
and  only  allude  to  it  now  to  bring  the  connecting  link  down  to 
the  day  of  the  rebel  chief,  who,  with  his  half  million,  of  men 
and  women,  now  occupies  the  very  city  where  Sir  Henry  Pet- 
tinger  so  ably  and  satisfactorily  concluded  the  treaty  of  1842, 
which  opened  up  the  five  ports  to  British  commerce,  and  paved 
the  way  for  Guizot,  on  the  part  of  the  French  King,  and 
Gushing  for  the  American  nation,  in  1844,  to  negotiate  similar 
treaties  on  behalf  of  their  respective  governments. 

The  opium  question — the  treatment  of  the  British  merchants 
by  Lin,  and  the  exclusive  measures  of  the  Chinese  government, 
occasioned  remonstrances  first,  and  then  action  ;  and  the  bold- 
ness of  the  assault  was  only  outdone  by  its  success.  The  rapid- 
ity of  the  battles  might  well  astonish  so  slow  a  people  as  the 
Chinese  ;  and  when  one  foothold  after  another  surrendered,  the 
imperial  monarch  began  to  grow  pale,  and  think  of  his  personal 
safety — one  following  the  other  in  rapid  succession — Amoy  and 
Chusan  towards  the  close  of  '41,  and  Niugpo  and  Ching-hae  in 
March,  Chapoo,  Woosung,  Shanghaeand  Chin  Kiangfoo,  shortly 
after  in  1842 — all  fell  before  the  British  forces,  startling  the 
whole  Chinese  nation  from  its  opiatic  slumbers,  and  weakening 


SIGNING    OF   THE    TKEATY    OF    NANKIN.  169 


at  every  victory  the  Tartar's  power — no  wonder  the  Mantchow 
King  gave  hasty  instructions  to  his  trusty  statesmen,  Keying 
and  Peipo,  to  stop  the  ravages  of  the  unconquerable  barbarians, 
and  make  a  treaty,  no  matter  what  the  terms  ;  language  widely 
different  from  the  haughty  despatches  which  the  same  monarch 
gave  to  Kishan  and  Lin  a  few  years  only  before.  No  wonder 
that  he  mistrusted  his  power  and  trembled  for  his  throne — no 
wonder  that  he  had  made  arrangements  to  flee  into  his  tributary 
deserts  in  Manchowia,  for  to  all  appearances  the  war  strife  of 
the  British  would  shortly  knock  down  all  the  cities  in  the  king- 
dom. I  believe  at  this  time  so  frightened  was  the  government 
that  the  English  nation  could  have  made  any  regulations  they 
chose — Ministers  at  Pekin,  all  ports  opened,  foreigners  natural- 
ized, aud  free  trade  and  free  access  throughout  the  territory. 
But  as  it  was,  England  was  satisfied.  She  copied  from  Napo- 
leon, and  made  the  conquered  nation  pay  the  expenses  for  get- 
ting whipped — $21,000,000  from  the  imperial  cash  box — the 
full  opening  of  the  cinque  ports,  and  England  was  satisfied  ;  and 
America  may  thank  her  stars  that  she  has  had  the  chance  of 
enjoying  the  same  advantages  without  doing  any  of  the  hard 
and  dirty  work.  The  signing  of  the  treaty  of  Nankin  relieved 
the  Tartar  monarch  of  his  fears,  but  greatly  reduced  the  respect 
with  which  the  Chinese  had  always  held  him.  In  every  possi- 
ble way  the  extent  of  the  conquest  was  kept  from  the  body  of 
the  people,  as  can  be  seen  by  a  reference  to  the  file  of  the 
Pekin  Gazette — a  daily  publication — to  see  how  grossly  facts 
were  misrepresented.  Hue  says  he  frequently  met  with  those 
who  would  ask  for  the  Southern  barbarians  that  the  Emperor 
had  so  soundly  beaten.  Such  a  thing  as  reform  is  hardly 
known*  in  Chinese  history — unless  I  may  mention  the  movement 
of  that  highly  accomplished  lady  who  some  fifteen  or  twenty 


170  ORIGIN    OF    THK    PRESENT    REBELLION. 

y.  .f  

years  ago  rose,  on  account  of  her  personal  attractions  and 
talented  mind,  to  the  head  of  the  kingdom  as  the  consort  of 
the  Emperor.  But  her  life  was  as  brief  as  it  was  good  ;  envy 
at  her  rising  fame  brought  snares  around  her  path,  and  slander 
and  neglect  broke  her  heart,  and  a  whole  nation  mourned  her 
great  loss.  Many  supposed  that  the  death  of  the  late  Emperor 
would  occasion  revolution  and  bloodshed  regarding  the  succes- 
session — but  it  seems  that  the  Mantchou  child  of  the  Tartar 
concubine  wears  the  regal  honors  in  the  presence  of  the  Cabinet 
who  govern  the  nation,  while  the  young  Emperor  is  undermining 
his  constitution  in  the  fatal  dissipation  of  the  opium  pipe  and 
the  harem — a  short  but  a  merry  life — and  then  another  change. 
It  is  next  to  impossible  to  say  what  effect  the  late  rebellions 
have  had  upon  the  government,  for  the  articles  in  the  Gazette 
only  lead  the  reader  astray. 

Tai-ping-wang  still  holds  the  Southern  capital,  and  no  Impe- 
rial army  has  yet  been  able  to  dislodge  him.  He  rules  with 
military  discipline — no  opium  allowed — no  tobacco  can  be 
smoked;  and,  what  is  most  remarkable,  and  I  should  suppose 
would  be  most  unpopular  and  somewhat  doubtful,  no  intercourse 
is  allowed  between  the  sexes.  A  Chinese  Hong  merchant  who 
has  just  come  down  from  Nankin  says  the  imperial  troops,  in 
most  disorderly  masses  are  encamped  about  the  city,  but  like 
the  allies  before  Sebastopol,  the  siege  already  has  lasted  some 
two  years,  and  no  surrender  from  the  rebel  chief.  The  China- 
man above  referred  to  says  that  the  rebels  can  grow  all  the 
rice  they  may  require  for  support,  and  as  for  starving  them  out, 
it  is  out  of  the  question.  At  one  time  the  rapid  movements  of 
the  several  leaders  led  thinking  men  to  suppose  a  change  of  dy- 
nasty. Amoy  first  turned  to  the  revolutionists,  May  18,  1853, 
but  the  government  troops  retook  it  again  in  November,  since 

n 


CHRISTIANITY    NOT    ITS    MAINSPRING.  171 


which  all  has  been  quiet.  Again,  September  7,  1853,  Shang- 
hae  was  captured,  and  held  for  eighteen  months,  but  then  it 
had  to  give  way  to  the  Imperial  army  in  February,  1855.  At 
Canton,  June  1854,  the  insurrectionists  did  not  succeed  ;  but 
Nankin  fell  the  previous  year,  in  March,  and  is  still  held  by  the 
rebel  army.  Those  few  cities  enumerate  the  most  prominent 
points  of  action,  but  several  small  inland  towns  and  cities  have 
been  taken,  ransomed,  and  given  up  again,  only  to  be  retaken 
once  more.  Every  mail  from  China  during  the  past  two  years 
was  expected  to  carry  the  downfall  of  the  Tartars,  but  they 
are  still  in  power  ;  and  although  they  have  not  been  able  to 
take  Nankin,  their  forces  are  continually  increasing,  and  one  or 
the  other  must  soon  give  way. 

It  is  most  amusing  to  note  the  clashing  opinions  of  the  mer- 
chants and  missionaries  of  China  and  the  journalists  and  re- 
viewers of  the  West,  since  the  commencement  of  the  revolution. 
The  missionaries  saw  the  handiwork  of  God,  and  their  arduous 
labors  fairly  crowned  with  the  approaching  success.  Religion 
was  the  motive  power,  and  many  of  the  clever  writers  traced 
the  origin  of  the  rebellion  from  Tai-ping-wang,  who  was  a 
student  of  the  missionary  Roberts,  in  1833.  Some  of  the  mer- 
chants agreed,  but  more  of  them  had  no  faith  in  the  Christian- 
ity of  the  troubles.  It  was  no  general  insurrection,  and  they 
— each  chief  at  each  place — acted  on  his  own  responsibility, 
and  was  actuated  only  by  the  hope  of  plunder,  or  rising  fame 
on  the  waves  of  revolution.  One  of  the  leading  chieftains  was 
known  to  have  been  a  horse  boy  of  bad  character,  of  one  of 
the  merchants  of  Shanghae,  and  the  other's  history  could  not 
be  traced  to  any  good.  The  movement  at  Shanghae  was  en- 
tirely distinct  from  that  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  up  the 
Yang-tze  Kang,  at  Nankin,  while  that  at  Amoy  was  not  the 

-'*  *. 


172  CHINESE    DIPLOMACY. 


same  as  that  at  Canton.  Robbery  and  piracy  were  fast  creat- 
ing new  men,  and  the  government  could  not  concentrate  forces 
fast  enough  to  put  down  the  disturbers  of  the  peace.  The 
attack  of  the  foreigners  at  Shanghae,  where  Gray  was  wounded 
and  Captain  Pearson  killed,  was,  it  will  be  remembered,  on  the 
imperial,  not  the  rebel  camp,  showing  the  belief  that  the  latter 
was  the  stronger.  Then  none  knew  how  the  battles  would  turn, 
and  the  foreigners,  influenced  only  by  trade  and  personal  safety, 
.were  desirous  of  taking  the  popular  side.  Now  they  see  their 
error,  although  many  still  hold  that  all  was  for  the  best ;  for 
had  they  not  stopped  the  advances  of  the  Tartar  troops,  no  one 
would  have  been  safe  in  the  settlement.  I  have  said  that  most 
of  the  missionaries  believed  that  it  was  only  the  ripening  of 
the  missionary  fruit ;  and  even  now  there  are  few  of  them  that 
will  endorse  the  position  which  I  have  taken,  that  naught  but 
the  love  of  piracy  and  the  excitement  of  the  mob  influenced 
the  insurrectionists.  It  is  true  that  one  or  two  of  their  leaders 
gave  out  religion  as  the  cause  ;  but  is  there  anything  in  that 
but  Chinese  diplomacy  ?  They  thought  that  such  a  banner 
would  help  them,  and  with  the  cunning  of  the  race  they  hoisted 
it.  But  Tai-ping-wang,  it  is  known,  is  hostile  to  all  foreigners, 
and  the  actions  of  the  rebels,  now  show  that  Christianity  was 
only  called  in  as  an  ally.  God  forbid  that  I  should  in  any  way 
detract  one  jot  or  tittle  from  the  hard  labors  of  the  mission  ; 
many  of  its  followers  are  good  and  honest  men,  depriving  them- 
selves of  home  comforts,  and  living  in  a  foreign  country,  for 
conscience  sake— some  with  fortunes  before  they  went  there ; 
Miss  Aldersy,  at  Ningpo,  for  instance,  whose  Christian  labors 
Martin  has  so  gracefully  alluded  to,  and  others  not  so  wealthy, 
but  who  are  influenced  by  the  same  motives  of  doing  good  to 
their  fellow  man.  But,  thus  far,  what  has  been  done  ?  The 


ROMISH    AND    PROTESTANT    MISSIONARIES.  113 


seed  may  have  been  planted,  but  is  it  not  time  to  see  some  of 
the  fruit  ?  Our  habits,  our  manners,  our  belief,  our  actions 
confuse  them.  One  sells  opium,  another  says  it  must  not  be 
used — one  talks  dollars,  while  the  other  holds  the  Bible — al- 
though so  far  so  little  encouragement  has  been  given  them  in 
making  converts,  it  does  not  follow  that  many  of  the  mission- 
aries are  not  influenced  by  the  most  noble  motives — but  I  can- 
not feel  that  the  wedge  has  even  been  inserted.  Christianize 
the  higher  classes — the  mandarins  and  the  government  first — 
and  then  you  may  have  hopes  for  the  people  ;  as  it  is,  none 
but  the  poorest  classes  have  been  willing  to  listen,  and  there 
are  few  of  them  that  will  not  be  a  Christian  for  fifty  cents, 
baptized  in  any  creed,  and  a  member  of  any  sect.  Money  has 
more  effect  with  them  than  tracts  ;  and  if  such  is  the  case,  the 
evangelization  of  the  Chinese  will  depend  upon  the  contribution 
boxes  at  home.  The  moment  you  think  you  have  made  a  con- 
vert, the  man  may  be  robbing  your  cash  box. 

I  believe  there  are  some  eighty  or  ninety  foreign  ministers 
scattered  along  the  eight  hundred  miles  of  coast — but  none 
inland — belonging  to  the  Protestant  faith.  The  Church  of 
Rome  displays  the  most  industry,  and  in  early  years  made  rapid 
progress  ;  and  at  one  time  they  counted  a  million  converts. 
The  Catholic  missionary  completely  shuts  himself  from  the  outer 
world,  and  in  his  dress,  mode  of  living,  manners  and  language 
becomes  a  Chinaman.  I  saw  one  with  the  tail  and  costume. 
Hue  and  Gebeth  both  dressed  in  the  same  style — the  former 
spoke  Chinese  and  Mongol  court  language,  and  some  of  the 
Tarter  dialect.  Most  of  the  Catholics  are  men  of  classical 
education,  and  of  distinguished  families,  live  on  small  salaries, 
and  are  noted  for  their  quiet,  unassuming  lives.  It  is  said  that 
their  comparative  success  was  in  the  strong  resemblance  of  the 


174  ROMISH    AND    BHUDHIST   FORMS    OF    WORSHIP. 


Bhudhist  and  Romish  forms  of  worship.  I  noticed  this  resem- 
blance in  some  of  the  temples.  Christianity,  I  believe,  was 
introduced  to  the  Celestials  somewhere  about  the  sixth,  seventh 
and  eight  centuries,  by  the  Catholics  and  the  Nestorians  ;  but 
it  was  a  few  hundred  years  later — some  fire  hundred  years  since 
— the  age  of  the  Crusades — that  Scott  has  impressed  upon  the 
memory  in  the  Talisman — which  brought  Asia  and  Europe 
nearer  together,  and  Pope  Innocent  the  Fourth,  in  the  thirteenth, 
and  Pope  Clement  the  Fifth,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  sent 
their  ministers  to  China.  This  was  the  time  that  Clement 
established  in  the  Ming  dynasty  an  archbishoprick  at  Pekin,  and 
the  Chinese  were  rolling  in  luxury  and  in  ease.  Each  century 
saw  other  changes — more  priests  left  under  succeeding  Popes — 
and  in  the  sixteenth  century  how  surprised  the  Catholic  minis- 
ters must  have  been  to  leave  Bedlam  for  Paradise  !  for  certainly 
the  civilization  of  China,  when  at  its  acme  of  fame,  was  a  vast 
change  from  feudal  Europe,  broken  to  pieces  by  convulsion  and 
revolution.  Father  Ricci  at  this  period  was  preaching  the  faith 
in  the  north  of  China,  while  Xavier  was  expounding  his  doctrines 
to  the  astonished  natives  in  the  interior  of  Japan,  and  towards 
L  the  end  of  this  century  the  Jesuits  from  France  were  at  the 
height  of  their  fame  at  Pekin.  Hue,  in  his  first  work — Travels 
in  Thibet,  Tartary  and  China,  in  '44,  '45  and  '46 — has  spoken 
at  length  of  the  Mongol  and  Tartar  religion,  and  says  that  the 
Jesuits  lost  their  power  in  1799,  the  year  of  Washington's  death 
— when  Kia-King,  the  fifth  monarch  of  the  Mantchow  dynasty, 
drove  them  from  the  capital,  and  cut  down  their  power.  The 
Emperor  saw  them  going  ahead  too  fast,  and  when  they  made 
the  sad  mistake,  at  Rome,  of  making  the  Pope  a  higher  sove- 
reign than  the  King,  the  Jesuits'  progress  was  on  the  wane. 
This  trifling  point  given  up,  all  would  have  been  well.  France 


DIFFERENT    VIEWS    OF   THE    REBELLION.  175 


has  always  devoted  some  of  her  time  to  Chinese  literature  ;  and 
I  suppose  more  cau  be  found  regarding  the  early  history  of  China 
in  the  French  libraries  than  in  any  other  place.  But  the  writers 
then  differed  almost  as  much  as  now.  Voltaire  and  Montesquieu 
were  at  swords'  points  ;  one  called  it  a  paradise,  while  the  latter 
saw  only  a  prison.  But  I  am  wandering  from  my  text  ;  from 
speaking  of  the  rebellion  I  have  gone  to  the  missionary  ;  but  as 
they  have  been  both  associated  -  latterly,  I  may  be  pardoned  for 
dwelling  a  few  moments  on  the  one  while  sketching  the  progress 
of  the  other. 

I  have  given  my  reasons  for  believing  that  the  late  insurrection 
was  entirely  foreign  from  the  Christain's  labors  ;  but,  as  I  have 
said,  few  of  the  members  of  the  mission  will  agree  with  me. 
However  my  opinion,  goes  for  what  it  is  worth.  Read  Mac- 
Dowal's  and  Meadows'  correspondence  in  the  Times,  last  year, 
if  you  wish  to  see  different  views.  The  one  argues  directly 
against  the  other  ;  but  neither  conclusively.  Depend  upon  it, 
the  Tsing  dynasty  came  much  nearer  being  overthrown  with  the 
English  war  than  by  the  late  movement ;  for  the  one  had  power, 
the  other  only  told  of  weakness. 

It  is  utterly  impossible  to  say  what  a  day  may  bring  forth. 
Here,  as  in  Europe,  a  change  may  come  in  the  night  time. 
China  may  remain  stationary  for  a  year  or  two,  or  longer,  and 
then,  mirabile  dictu,  all  is  in  commotion  again.  As  Europe 
was  in  the  middle  ages,  so  is  China  now — just  upon  the  eve 
of  some  wonderful  moral  and  political  change.  Feudal  Eu- 
rope held  back  for  a  long  time  from  civilization,  from  the  arts, 
literature  and  commerce.  So  it  is  now  with  China.  Foreign 
influence  must  work  out  the  country's  destiny.  What  is  wanted 
is  the  united  action  of  several  nations — an  allied  fleet  to  wake 
them  from  their  lethargic  slumbers. 


176 


EDUCATION    AMONG   THE    CHINESE    POPULATION. 


I  have  shown  in  running  my  eye  through  the  page  of  history 
that  the  revolution  of  1853  is  nothing  at  all  unusual — period- 
ical storms  of  insurrections  have  and  will  continue  to  spread  the 
Jacobin  system  throughout  the  empire ;  the  same  restless  demo- 
cratic spirit  that  is  working  at  the  vitals  of  European  monarch- 
ism  in  a  different  form,  is  eating  at  the  roots  of  the  Tartar's 
throne.  I  can  imagine  nothing  more  terrible  than  the  breaking 
up  into  petty  governments  of  such  a  mighty  people.  Better  be 
as  they  are  than  in  the  hands  of  native  princes,  each  striving 
for  the  other's  life.  Moral  corruption  corroding  a  civilized  na- 
tion is  sad  to  contemplate.  A  Chinese  Mahomet  and  Pretender's 
doctrine  blinds  a  nation's  mind.  They  are  a  strange  people. 
FUial  piety  and  family  ties  are  the  root  of  their  education. 
Like  all  races,  they  have  rich  and  poor,  vice  and  virtue,  comfort 
and  misery.  Centralization,  in  a  word,  is  their  government, 
like  that  once  executed  by  Rosas — in  some  respects  absolute, 
not  despotic.  Take  into  consideration  its  extent  of  empire  and 
population,  no  nation  is  better  governed.  It  is  true  that  bribery, 
from  the  Imperial  Palace  down  to  the  lowest  mandarin,  is  ac- 
knowledged ;  and  often  poverty  and  destitution  usurp  the  place 
of  morality  and  arts.  The  doctrine  of  Confucius,  that  ceremony 
is  the  symbol  of  virtue,  is  strictly  observed,  which  may  account 
for  their  classic  politeness.  Strip  them  of  the  official  dress  and 
you  find  them  free  and  easy.  Urbanity  is  a  national  trait — 
Chinese  writers  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  They  are  great 
readers.  Every  Chinaman,  almost,  no  matter  how  poor,  can 
read  and  write,  even  those  who  live  in  the  millions  of  floating 
dwellings  on  the  lakes  and  rivers.  The  walls  and  fences  and  pub- 
lic places  I  found  stuck  over  with  proclamations,  with  eager  read- 
ers crowding  round.  Instruction  is  diffused  in  every  city,  a  teacher 
in  every  town,  a  school  in  every  village.  Literary  honors,  length 
of  days,  and  male  offspring  is  the  Chinaman's  wishful  prayer. 

•~*£  '          .. 


NATIONAL   CHARACTERISTICS.  177 

The  five  sacred  and  four  classic  books  are  the  bases  of  all 
science  and  arts  and  literature  among  them.  The  maxims  and 
proverbs  of  Confucius  are,  many  of  them,  beautiful.  He  has  a 
monument  in  every  city — a  name  as  immortal  as  his  code  of 
morals.  Martin  gives  many  of  his  sayings,  and  has  written,  I 
think,  the  best  work  ever  published  on  China.  Next  to  it,  I 
give  preference  to  the  Middle  Kingdom,  by  Williams.  Mencius 
was  also  a  noted  man.  M.  Abel  Remusat  eulogizes  both  sages. 
The  works  of  these  men  are  traced  in  all  their  writings.  Their 
book  is  a  digest  of  all  knowledge.  The  twin  pillars  of  Chinese 
society  is  strong  attachment  for  ancient  customs,  and  profound 
respect  for  authority.  Money  getting  is  a  ruling  passion,  and 
gaming  is  carried  to  excess.  They  are  a  nation  of  merchants, 
of  traders,  of  fishermen,  and  of  farmers.  Their  language  is 
ideas,  not  words.  Their  women  are  degraded,  from  the  cradle 
to  the  grave,  like  the  Indian  squaw.  The  ovation  at  her  wed- 
ding is  a  transitory  pleasure.  Sterility  and  infidelity  are  causes 
of  divorce,  while  the  birth  of  a  female  child  oftimes  brings  the 
murder  of  the  infant,  and  the  self  destruction  of  the  mother.  A 
nation  of  actors  as  well  as  cooks — like  gipsies,  they  move  in 
gangs.  Time  is  their  fulcrum,  patience  their  lever.  China  is  an 
immense  library  ;  that  at  Pekin  has  20,000  volumes.  Their 
Mandarins  cringe  to  superiors  but  grind  those  below  them — 
thieves  and  tyrants.  The  Chinese  are  not  exclusive  ;  it  is  the 
Tartars  that  shut  the  Empire's  gate.  Lynch  law  is  not  pe- 
culiar to  America.  The  Chinamen  has  little  genius,  but  can 
imitate  anything  ;  they  never  despond,  but  always  try.  Noth- 
ing original,  and  little  taste,  but  the  most  indefatigable  industry. 
Take  them  all  in  all  they  are  a  most  wonderful  race  ;  and  to 
end  my  chapter  where  I  commenced  it,  China  and  its  future  offer 
food  for  deep  contemplation.  If  my  time  allows,  I  shall  say  a 
word  on  commerce. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

OFF  CHIKA  COAST,  ON  BOARD  STEAMSHIP  ) 
FIERY  CROSS,  bound  to  Calcutta,      J 

February.  27,  1856 

"Will  American  Trade  -with  China  Increase? — What  the  Continental 
Countries  have  Done — Their  Commercial  Intercourse  with  China  and 
their  Failures — Russia  more  Active — Intercourse  with  Siam — Novel 
Yankee  Speculation — Anglo-Saxon  Enterprise — How  the  Americans 
•were  Introduced  to  the  Chinese — Trade  Statistics  of  Canton — What 
the  People  Pay  for  Opium — Tea  Freights — How  "  Young  America" 
can  get  in — Missionary  Influence — What  American  Steamships  may 
do — What  the  People  Want  and  what  they  can  Return. 

WILL  our  commerce  with  China  increase  during  the  next  ten 
years  in  the  same  ratio  as  it  has  during  the  past  ?  I  believe  it 
will.  Why  should  it  not?  What  will  prevent  it?  So  far 
comparatively  nothing  has  been  accomplished.  France  has 
done  little  in  China  but  to  copy  the  English  treaty.  Her  for- 
eign trade  in  the  East  is  not  commensurate  with  her  territory, 
her  population  or  her  energy.  When  the  European  agitation 
has  subsided  by  conquest  or  ignoble  peace  on.  one  side  or  the 
other — for  I  can  hardly  look  for  half-way  measures — will  not 
the  head  of  the  French  throne  turn  his  attention  to  the  Impe- 
rial kingdom,  where  the  fruit  is  all  ready  to  be  plucked  ?  Louis 
Napoleon  is  restless  and  France  wants  foreign  commerce — now 
is  his  time  to  open  China. 


COMMERCIAL   INTERCOURSE    WITH   CHINA.  179 


Germany  and  the  independent  States  have  been  more  active 
in  the  two  great  staples,  but  the  whole  Continental  commerce 
with  the  East  is  but  a  drop  in  the  bucket.  Holland  threw  up 
her  cards  centuries  ago.  Who  can  forget  that  singular  embassy 
in  1856  to  the  Imperial  city,  where  the  Dutch  Minister  was 
announced  with  the  crack  of  a  long  whip,  ushered  into  the  pre- 
sence of  Majesty  and  kicked  out  again  in  less  than  eight 
minutes.  As  a  neutral  power,  her  enterprising  merchants  may 
grasp  some  of  the  carrying  trade,  but  aside  from  this  little 
Holland  is  contented  with  her  greater  possessions  in  the  Indian 
Archipelago. 

Portugal  has  nothing  but  the  Lorchas  of  Macao — Fernand 
D.  Anderdu  made  the  first  treaty  with  the  Viceroy  of  Canton, 
a  few  years  after  Columbus  found  a  Western  continent.  This 
merchant  captain  in  151 7,  got  his  fleet  of  eight  ships  under 
way  for  China,  and  the  Portuguese  capture  of  some  pirate 
junks  so  pleased  the  Emperor,  that  he  gave  them  the  sterile 
peninsula  of  Macao,  which  for  three  hundred  years  was  the  sole 
mart  of  European  commerce.  Portugal  is  commercially  dead. 
Russia  is  more  active.  Before  Peter's  time  she  sent  embassies 
to  Pekin,  and  since  the  day  of  the  Emperor  shipbuilder  she  has 
kept  up  the  connexion,  made  several  treaties  and  grasped  con- 
siderable territory.  The  treaty  of  1728  still  gives  the  Rus- 
sians power,  and  with  the  secret  policy  of  the  two  nations  to 
stop  inquiry,  few  can  tell  the  extent  of  that  inland  traffic.  The 
Russian  supply  of  linens,  cloths,  velvets,  soap,  salt,  hardware 
and  many  other  articles  must  be  immense  ;  for  it  is  a  barter 
trade,  they  taking  in  return  rice,  silks  and  brick  tea — a  coarse, 
cheap  article,  made  into  the  shape  of  a  brick.  Where  popu- 
lation is  so  immense  commerce  must  be  of  no  little  magnitude. 
Who  can  tell  but  what  many  of  the  manufactured  goods  that 


180  YANKEE    SPECULATION. 

Russia  took  from  England  in  payment  for  her  hemp,  feathers, 
leather,  &c.,  found  their  way  overland  to  Mongol,  Tartary  and 
China?  Even  now  the  Russians  have  a  college  at  the  Chinese 
Capital,  where  ten  scholars  from  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow 
are  taught  the  court  language  of  the  Chinese,  so  as  to  act  as 
interpreters  and  ambassadors.  For  a  long  time  the  Emperor's 
knowledge  of  what  was  passing  in  the  European  world  was  ob- 
tained from  the  Russians,  who  now  possess  the  Amoor  and 
much  of  its  border  lands.  Although  she  may,  however,  obtain 
an  increased  inland  traffic,  her  maritime  commerce  must  be 
small  until  her  policy  is  changed. 

The  native  islanders  in  the  China  and  Indian  seas,  tributary 
and  otherwise,  will  continue  to  despatch  their  huge  native  craft 
between  the  several  ports  as  heretofore,  and  the  absence  of  sta- 
tistics shuts  out  all  knowledge  of  its  extent,  but  it  is  known  to 
be  immense.  Foreign  ships  are  now  being  owned  by  Chinamen 
and  Siamese,  sailed  by  European  captains.  I  have  learned  in- 
directly, but  cannot  indorse  the  report,  that  an  arrangement 
has  been  made  by  an  American  merchant  of  Shanghae — who  is 
now  and  has  been  some  months  the  guest  of  his  Majesty  the 
King  of  Siam — to  take  that  distinguished  potentate  into  the 
aforesaid  merchant's  firm  as  a  junior  partner.  If  so,  Mr.  Con- 
sul General  Harris  will  have  to  negotiate  through  a  fellow 
countrymen.  Mr.  H.,  is  now  at  Penang,  waiting  for  the  San 
Jacinto  to  usher  him  into  the  presence  of  the  black  king. 

Spain  is  in  her  dotage,  and  will  have  all  she  wants  to  do  to 
take  care  of  Cuba  and  Philippines. 

England  and  America,  then,  are  left  to  revolutionize,  com- 
mercialize and  naturalize  the  Celestials.  English  pluck  and 
American  enterprise  united,  and  what  can  stop  the  Anglo- 
Saxons'  progress  ?  Thus  far  comparatively  nothing  has  been 


ANGLO-SAXON    ENTERPRISE.      •  181 


accomplished  in  China.  Fourteen  years  have  passed  since  the 
war,  and  clipper  ships  have  had  their  day  of  profitable  freights. 
One  hundred  millions  of  dollars  is  a  small  sum  for  Western 
merchants  to  invest  in  so  extensive  a  country,  and  onlyfive  or 
six  hundred  Anglo  Saxons,  at  the  most,  are  scattered  along  the 
Chinese  coast  as  commercial  men.  Queen  Elizabeth  first  tried 
to  introduce  England  to  China  about  the  time  that  Wm. 
Shakspere  was  writing  himself  immortal.  In  1596  the  virgin 
sovereign  wrote  her  first  diplomatic  letter  to  the  Emperor  of 
China,,  in  favor  of  her  most  enterprising  subjects — Richard 
Allot  and  Thomas  Bloomfield,  merchants  of  London — but  a 
storm  turned  the  ship  out  of  the  track,  and  the  letter  never 
was  delivered.  In  1613  the  East  India  Company  first  got  a 
taste  for  China  trade,  and  little  by  little  increased  their  power 
and  got  the  entire  monopoly,  which  they  held  till  1834,  when 
the  trade  was  thrown  open  to  all.  Lord  Napier's  treatment, 
the  destruction  of  opium,  the  war  and  peace,  I  have  already 
spoken  of.  So  much  for  England's  progress  in  the  trade. 
America  in  1786  sent  her  first  ship — a  350  ton  vessel — and  her 
neutrality  during  the  twenty  years'  war  turned  the  introduction 
to  good  account.  That  and  the  freighting  of  teas  to  Holland 
in  Yankee  vessels,  during  Napoleon's  success,  increased  the  ex- 
tent of  our  commerce  ;  but  in  1821  it  was  suddenly  stopped 
by  the  accidental  death  of  a  China  woman,  by  an  American 
sailor  dropping  a  pot  on  her  head.  Ho u  qua,  the  well  known 
Hong  merchant,  did  his  best  to  adjust  the  matter,  but  not  till 
the  man  was  given  up  and  strangled  outside  the  walls  by  the 
Chinese  authorities  was  the  trade  resumed.  The  captains  act- 
ing as  supercargoes,  bought  teas  directly  from  the  Chinese  sel- 
lers, and  they  and  a  few  of  the  old  merchants — Russell  and 
others—  had  the  cream  of  the  trade,  especially  during  the  war. 


182  AMERICANS    INTRODUCED   TO    THE    CHINESE. 


Another  misunderstanding  occurred  in  1844,  by  the  American 
Consul  erecting  a  vane  on  the  top  of  his  flag  pole,  which  caused 
great  excitement  among  the  Chinese,  and  had  to  be  taken 
down  at  once.  This  was  the  year  in  which  the  United  States 
government  sent  the  expensive  embassy  to  China,  and  our  pre- 
sent Attorney  General,  Mr.  Gushing  prepared  the  paper  with 
judgment  and  care.  The  Chinese  had  previously  promised 
Commodore  Kearney,  before  the  Nankin  treaty  was  signed, 
that  America  should  have  the  same  concessions.  England  de- 
serves credit  for  her  liberality  on  this  occasion.  Other  minis- 
ters have  since  been  sent  to  China — Everett,  McLane,  Mar- 
shall and  Rev.  Dr.  Parker — but  little  has  been  done  to  increase 
our  trade  or  extend  our  commerce.  Pekin  has  not  been  reached 
by  any  American.  Lord  McCartney,  after  submitting  to  in- 
sults unheard  of,  saw  Pekiu  in  1794,  and  Davis  tells  of  his 
afflictions  in  1816.  The  embassy  declined  to  knock  their  heads 
nine  times  against  a  stone  post,  and  hence  the  Emperor  declined 
to  receive  them,  and  in  his  letter  to  the  King  of  England,  says 
that  he  permitted  them  to  leave  without  the  severe  punishment 
they  deserved  for  their  gross  behavior.  Some  writer  observes 
that  "  the  British  embassy  at  that  time  entered  Pekin  like  beg- 
gars, remained  there  like  prisoners,  and  were  driven  out  like 
thieves." 

The  statistics  on  the  Canton  Chamber  of  Commerce  show 
that  in  183t  the  commerce  was  entirely  in  favor  of  China. 
Great  Britain  imported  some  $16,000,000  more  than  she  sent 
to  China,  and  the  United  States  had  to  pay  China  the  same 
year  some  $4,300,000  over  and  above  what  she  exported.  Here, 
then,  was  some  $20,000,000  a  year  balance  of  trade  in  China's 
favor,  and  so  far  as  legitimate  commerce  was  concerned,  it 
continued  in  the  same  ratio  for  some  fifteen  years,  until  1852  ; 


THE    CHINA    TRADE.  183 


but  it  must  be  remembered  the  important  item  of  opium  had 
been  omitted,  and  hence  instead  of  receiving  $20,000,000,  China 
had  to  pay  about  that  amount  into  the  always  ready  to  receive 
coffers  of  the  East  India  Company,  for  the  privilege  of  poisoning 
her  people. 

During  the  last  three  years  our  clipper  ships  in  spite  of  the 
revolution,  have  generally  found  here  freight,  for  there  is  one 
thing  I  have  long  noticed,  that  no  matter  what  the  circulars 
say  about  the  scarcity  of  teas,  &c.,  there  is  usually  just  one  cargo 
left.  The  China  trade,  instead  of  being  concentrated  in  Canton 
as  formerly,  is  scattered  up  and  down  the  coast  in  the  hands  of 
many  houses — so  much  for  the  past.  The  revolution  you  may 
almost  say  has  come  and  gone,  and  the  business  of  the  country 
still  rolls  on — so  much  for  the  present.  Now,  what  shall  we 
say  for  the  future  ?  How  is  the  trade  to  be  enlarged  ?  There  is 
only  one  way,  and  that  is  by  England  and  America  pulling 
together  when  they  talk  over  the  renewal  and  alteration  of  the 
treaty,  close  at  hand.  Diplomacy  by  notes  will  do  no  good  un- 
less you  have  a  frigate  at  your  back — firmness  and  decision 
are  wanted  ;  and  the  question  arises,  are  Sir  John  Bowring  and 
Dr.  Parker  the  men  for  the  time  ?  Are  they  the  right  ministers 
for  the  right  places  ?  There  are  many  in  China  who  think  not. 
The  missionary  influence  is  not  a  popular  one,  and  such  men, 
they  say,  are  apt  to  be  led  astray  by  Chinese  diplomacy,  and 
in  discussing  the  treaty,  too  much  philanthropy  and  humanity 
will  spoil  everything.  Say  to  them,  open  your  ports  or  take 
the  consequences.  'Tis  the  only  way  to  touch  the  subject. 
Work  in  unison,  each  endorse  the  other  :  call  their  attention 
to  the  late  war,  galling  as  it  may  be,  and  say  to  them  that  the 
day  has  arrived  in  the  world's  history  when  nations  are  in  duty 
bound  to  open  their  gates  and  receive  a  minister  at  their  capital. 


184  ENTERPRISE    OF   THE   AGE. 


Ask,  I  believe,  and  ye  shall  receive  ;  but  you  must  put  the  matter 
in  a  way  not  to  be  misunderstood  ;  and  rather  than  fight  again 
the  Tartar  monarch  will  throw  open  the  empire,  as  he  did  the 
outer  gates  in  1842.  There  is  no  other  way.  Try  it,  ye  states- 
men of  the  West. 

The  fact  is,  the  Western  nations  think  but  precious  little  of 
China,  any  way.  They  drink  the  tea  and  use  the  silks,  and 
sometimes  read  the  newspaper  intelligence,  but  aside  from  those 
interested  in  the  personal  welfare  and  in  the  business  of  the  few 
foreigners  out  here,  England  and  the  United  States  care  but 
little  whether  the  country  is  opened  up  or  not.  Such  being  the 
case,  enterprise,  of  course,  is  perfectly  paralyzed  ;  not  a  yard 
of  electric  wire,  not  a  foot  of  railway,  not  even  a  common 
marine  telegraph  at  Hong  Kong  or  any  of  the  consular  ports 
to  tell  you  of  the  arrival  of  a  ship  ;  most  of  the  firms  have  a 
large  spy  glass,  and  the  moment  a  sail  heaves  in  sight,  such  is 
competition  and  the  desire  for  something  new,  that  a  dozen 
telescopes  are  at  once  pointed  at  the  new  arrival,  and  clipper 
boats  rest  on  their  oars  to  receive  the  papers.  Beautiful  hongs 
or  houses  have  been  built,  but  on  Chiqese  land,  and  some  of  the 
places  have  a  race  course,  a  bowling  alley  or  billiard  room,  but, 
save  a  dry-dock  or  two  at  Whampoa  or  Shanghae,  foreigners 
can  boast  few  specimens  of  the  enterprise  of  the  age.  Can  this 
thing  last  ?  Most  certainly  not.  If  the  government  don't  act, 
individuals  are  sure  to  try  a  hand  at  it.  One  or  two  steamers 
are  now  on  the  stocks,  and  the  owners  are  bound  to  see  some- 
thing of  the  inland  rivers.  Let  us  once  get  into  the  country 
and  we  are  all  right.  Chinamen  like  our  money,  and  those 
that  are  brought  in  contact  with  us  make  no  objections.  It  is 
those,  in  the  interior,  who  have  never  seen  us,  who  are  the  most 
hostile. 


AMERICAN    STEAMSHIPS.  185 


If  nothing  is  done  immediately  the  time  is  not  far  off  when 
American  steamers  will  be  running  up  and  down  the  canals  and 
rivers,  paying  for  themselves,  to  the  delight  of  the  Chinamen. 
When  I  notice  the  P.  and  0.  steamers  from  Hong  Kong  to 
Shanghae  crowded  with  Chinese  passengers,  when  I  see  the  boats 
on  Canton  river  full  of  living  freight,  all  Celestials,  I  can  but 
think  that  a  taste  for  such  travel  will  increase ;  and  once  get 
our  boats  in  the  interior,  and  what  a  field  for  enterprise  ! 

Imagine  the  steamboat  traffic  between  such  cities  as  Liver- 
pool and  London,  New  York  and  Boston,  or  perhaps  better 
still  in  comparison,  New  Orleans  and  St.  Louis,  and  then  con- 
template the  populous  towns  of  China,  and  the  extent  at  which 
our  machinery,  our  engineers,  our  enterprise  would  be  employed  1 
It  is  utterly  impossible  to  reflect  upon  the  complete  change  this 
would  bring  about.  Why,  all  the  machinists,  all  the  steamboat 
men,  all  the  Vunderbilts  and  the  George  Laws  of  the  day  could 
not  supply  the  ravenous  demand  ;  and  the  same  remark  applies 
to  many  other  notions.  Let  us  once  settle  on  some  of  the  rivers 
and  canals  in  the  country,  and  look  out  for  what  follows.  I 
have  been  informed  by  some  of  the  leading  merchants  that  raw 
silk  can  be  taken  to  England,  manufactured  by  British  work- 
men, and  brought  back  to  China,  underselling  the  Chinamen  on  „ 
their  own  ground,  the  same  as  England  has  done  with  our  cot- 
tons, notwithstanding  all  our  go-ahead-ativeness,  cheap  labor 
and  capital,  now  too  much  for  us  ;  and  if  too  much  for  us,  China, 
has  little  chance.  The  same  thing  has  been  done  in  India  ;  na- 
tive staples  have  been  made  up  in  England,  and  after  making 
the  two  long  voyages,  are  resold  again  to  the  natives,  showing 
the  superiority  of  steam  and  genius  over  the  simple  workmanship 
of  native  races.  China  can  give  us  silk  in  any  quantity,  and 


186  WHAT   THE    PEOPLE    WANT. 


when  the  world  consumes  more  teas,  those  can  be  supplied  ad 
libitem.  Cotton  comes  in  largely  from  Bombay.  Cannot  Amer- 
ica one  of  these  days  find  a  market  for  the  raw  material,  be- 
sides England  and  the  Continent. 

If  so  many  cotton  goods  have  been  forced  upon  the  Chinese 
on  the  seaboard  in  payment  for  teas  and  silks,  what  will  be  the 
trade  by  and  by  ?  The  Chinese  are  emphatically  a  commercial 
people,  and  when  they  see  an  improvement  they  are  not  apt  to 
let  it  go  past  them.  Some  of  the  merchants  own  European 
vessels — perhaps  one  of  these  years  junks  will  be  entirely  super- 
seded another  important  branch  of  trade.  Cotton  manufac- 
tures, and  silk  works  also,  must  be  introduced,  and  many  other 
improvements.  N"ew  fire  arras,  (this  will  not  meet  the  views  of 
the  peace  Congress)  one  of  these  days,  will  be  wanted  in  any 
quantity.  I  can  already  see  some  of  my  friends  laughing  at 
me  for  my  wild  notions,  and  for  writing  upon  a  country  after 
six  weeks  sojourn  on  the  fence,  looking,  as  it  were,  to  the  pro- 
perty beyond.  But  laughing  or  not,  those  who  read  these  lines 
in  China  for  your  far  reaching  journal,  is  the  only  paper  I  ever 
see  abroad  will  give  me  credit  for  asking  as  many  questions  in 
a  given  time  as  any  other  counting  house  tourist  who  has  been 
among  them.  I  can  safely  assure  them  that  I  have  not  lacked 
the  means  of  gaining  information  from  those  more  conversant 
with  the  country  than  myself,  and  must  be  pardoned  for  any 
egotism  I  may  have  displayed  ;  but  depend  upon  it,  if  the 
changes,  political  and  commercial,  which  I  Jiave  referred  to 
here,  are  carried  out — which  they  must  in  the  course  of  human 
events  inevitably  be — then  the  vast  and  illimitable  wealth  of 
this  wonderful  country  will  be  thrown  open  to  the  Western 
world. 


OHAPTEE    XVIII. 

CALCUTTA,  March  1, 1856. 

Trip  from  Hong  Kong  to  Calcutta — Scenes  Along  the  Indian  Coast — A 
Submarine  Diver  Operating  in  the  East — Reminiscences  of  Japan — 
Value  of  the  Perry  Treaty — Arrival  in  the  Hoogly  River — Steam 
Competition  Between  India  and  China — Cost  of  the  Voyages. 

THE  several  envelopes  mailed  at  Hong  Kong  and  Singapore 
will  have  given  you,  some  weeks  since,  the  notes  and  observa- 
tions which  I  made  in  passing  through  the  China  sea  ports. 
The  last  letter  was  written  .coming  down  the  China  seas,  and 
contained  a  resume  of  the  financial,  political,  social  and  com- 
mercial position  of  the  Celestial  kingdom,  based  upon  what  I 
had  seen,  heard  and  read  during  my  few  weeks  sojourn  there. 
On  the  14th  of  February  Jardine's  opium  clipper,  the  Fiery 
Cross,  steamed  out  of  Hong  Kong  harbor  for  Calcutta,  stop- 
ping at  Singapore  on  the  way  to  coal,  and  everything  is  fair  for 
a  prosperous  voyage.  Only  six  passengers,  and  two  of  them 
New  Yorkers,  sight  seeing,  like  myself,  in  the  Eastern  hemis- 
phere ;  six  passengers  only,  and  a  large  cabin  most  comfortably 
arranged,  and  officers  as  obliging  as  they  were  competent  in 
managing  so  beautiful  a  boat.  At  the  start  I  looked  for  a 
pleasant  voyage  ;  but  I  must  say,  for  once,  I  was  fairly  behind 
hand  in  my  anticipations  ;  for,  although  an  old  stager  for  a 
young  man  in  the  steam  packets  and  sailing  clippers  of  the 


188       tV  A    SUBMARINE    DIVER. 


Western  waters,  I  never  remember  of  passing  a  more  agreeable 
fortnight  or  of  making  a  pleasanter  trip. 

In  less  than  five  days  we  were  alongside  the  coal  wharf  at 
Singapore,  and  when  again  under  way,  two  days  later,  we  left 
the  Straits  of  Singapore  in  the  back  ground,  took  a  turn 
through  the  river  harbor  and  passed  out  of  the  inner  channel 
into  the  Straits  of  Malacca,  where  beautiful  islands  were  dot- 
ted over  the  water,  like  emerald  jewels  in  a  casket,  making 
everything  look  picturesque  in  nature. 

The  highlands  of  Penang  overlooked  the  Indian  sea  for 
miles — we  were  some  thirty  distant — and  the  peaks  were  dis- 
tinctly seen.  I  am  sorry  that  our  steamer  goes  on  without  a 
call,  for  all  agree  in  the  romantic  scenery  of  this  garden  island. 
Taylor  considers  it  the  most  beautiful  gem  of  tropical  beauty  in 
the  world,  and  he  has  traveled  long  and  should  be  good  autho- 
rity. In  the  evening  we  saw  a  schooner  with  a  light  at  the 
mast  head,  which,  the  captain  told  us,  belonged  to  the  great 
diver  of  England,  who  has  been  out  here  several  months  en- 
deavoring to  recover  the  large  amount  of  treasure  that  sunk 
with  the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  Company's  steamer  on  her 
China  voyage.  He  was  at  Sebastopol  last,  but  now  he  is  look- 
ing for  higher  game.  It  took  him  a  long  while  to  find  the  spot 
where  the  boat  went  down,  and  when  found,  his  buoys  and 
cable  were  lost  in  the  fierce  monsoon,  and  then  he  had  to  com- 
mence again.  The  company  agree  to  give  him  half,  but  if  he 
succeeds  in  raising  the  treasure,  I  fancy  he  will  consider  that  it 
all  belongs  to  him.  Night  and  day  the  divers  are  at  their  work, 
and  have  now  progressed'  so  far  as  to  find  the  door  of  the  trea- 
sure vault,  but  the  great  impediment  is  the  collection  of  oysters 
about  the  place,  the  sharp  shells  of  which  greatly  endanger  the 
life  of  the  diver  by  cutting  through  his  India  rubber  dress.  He 


REMINISCENCES    OF   JAPAN.  189 


is  most  sanguine  of  success,  and  there  are  many  that  Would  be 
glad  to  pay  all  bills  of  schooner,  buoys,  cables,  and  provisions, 
to  have  a  share  of  the  adventure.  Should  he  get  into  the 
vault,  he  will  make  his  fortune  in  a  short  time,  for  the  amount 
is  some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars. 

Our  Japanese  Consul  and  Siam  Ambassador,  I  mentioned  in 
my  last,  I  think,  is  at  Pecang,  waiting  patiently  for  the  San 
Jacinto  to  take  him  to  Bankok.  By  the  bye,  the  morning  I 
left  Hong  Kong  the  supercargo  of  the  Greta  called  upon  me, 
and  jotted  down  in  my  notebook  a  few  lines  telling  his  experi- 
ence among  the  Japanese,  the  substance  of  which  was  that  he 
left  Hong  Kong  in  April,  1855,  in  the  Greta,  with  stores  for 
sale  to  the  United  States  squadron  on  that  coast,  as  well  as  an 
assorted  cargo  for  the  new  markets  of  Simoda  and  Hakodadi. 
In  March,  arrived  at  the  latter  port,  but  found  that  nothing 
could  be  purchased,  nothing  sold.  He  then  started  for  Simoda, 
arriving  there  in  July,  where  he  found  the.  shipwrecked  Rus- 
sians of  the  flag  ship  Diana,  and  agreed  to  take  them  to  Agan 
— getting  permission  to  land  the  cargo  in  a  temple  on  the 
shore.  The  Dutchman  remained  on  shore  at  a  village  about 
a  mile  inland,  waiting  for  his  vessel  to  return  ;  but  it  will  be 
remembered  that  Captain  Fortescue,  who  will  be  recognized 
by  his  excessive  egotism,  of  the  Baraconta,  gallantly  bore  down 
upon  the  little  inoffensive  craft,  and  made  himself  famous  by 
taking  out  the  Russians  from  the  neutral  vessel,  and  bearing 
her  away  a  prize  to  Hong  Kong — the  only  feat  performed  by 
the  allied  fleet  during  the  three  years'  cruise  about  this  part  of 
the  world.  The  poor  supercargo  was  thus  left  alone  among  this 
singular  people,  and  in  consequence  of  the  loss  of  his  vessel, 
was  allowed  to  barter  some  of  his  cargo,  and  finally  purchased 
a  small  American  schooner  that  came  there  to  trade,  and  em- 


190  VALUE  OF  THE  PERRY  TREATY. 


barked  in  her  for  Hong  Kong,  with  the  rich  assortment  of 
Japanese  notions  which  he  had  collected  daring  his  nine  months' 
stay  on  the  island.  A  portion  of  these  goods  were  sold  at 
Hong  Kong,  at  very  high  prices.  The  balance  must  have 
reached  New  York  by  this  time,  having  been  shipped  direct  for 
that  city  in  the  Indiaman  and  Fleetwing  clippers,  to  be  sold  at 
public  auction.  You  will  thus  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
for  yourselves  the  latest  importations  from  Japan,  and,  save  the 
small  cargo  at  California,  the  only  one  ever  made  on  an  exten- 
sive scale  outside  of  the  treaty  with  the  Dutch.  During  his 
stay  at  Japan,  the  supercargo  has  kept  a  diary,  noting  down 
his  impressions  of  this  strange  country,  his  experience,  and  sale, 
and  barter,  and  his  extended  correspondence  with  the  govern- 
ment. This  journal  he  intends  to  publish  under  the  title  of 
"  Japan  After  the  Treaty  of  Kanagana,  by  F.  Aug.  Luhdorf." 
He  told  me  that  the  Caroline  Foot  people  left  Japan  owing  for 
a  part  of  their  cargo.  If  so  it  will  not  tend  to  increase  their 
affection  for  us,  or  to  help  Mr.  Harris  in  his  negotiations. 
Commodore  Perry's  arrangements  regarding  exchange,  he  said, 
would  put  a  stopper  on  commerce,  e  ven  if  a  foothold  could  be 
obtained  ;  for,  as  you  are  aware,  he  stipulated  that  they  should 
give  1,600  cash  for  a  dollar.  Now,  as  a  Japanese  dollar  is 
only  33  cents,  or  one-third  of  an  American  dollar.  Commo- 
dore Perry  should  have  got  three  times  1,600,  or  4,800  cash  to 
the  American  dollar,  for  as  it  is  it  makes  the  exchange  sixty- 
six  per  cent  against  us.  Who  says  the  Japanese  are  not  well 
up  in  exchange  ? — at  any  rate  better  posted  than  the  gallant 
Commodore  ?  As  it  is,  suppose  you  wish  to  buy  $50  worth  of 
Japanese  goods  ;  these  goods  would  only  cost  fifty  Japanese 
dollars  ;  but  according  to  the  treaty,  says  Luhdorf,  I  had  to 
pay  fifty  American  dollars,  or  one  hundred  and  fifty  Japanese 


ARRIVAL    IN    THE    HOOGLY    RIVER.  191 


dollars,  fifty  of  which  the  government  hands  over  to  the  Japan- 
ese seller  of  the  goods  and  pockets  the  remaining  one  hundred 
dollars — a  rather  startling  tax  upon  the  infant  commerce. 
Therefore,  nothing  whatever  can  be  accomplished  until  a  new 
treaty  is  made — and  that  a  treaty  of  commerce — which  Consul 
Harris  may  be  able  to  accomplish  when  backed  by  a  few  sub- 
stantial men  of  war,  but  not  without.  During  the  nine  months 
spent  in  the  country  Luhdorf  was  not  able  to  obtain  an  inter- 
view with  the  government. 

Everything  had  to  be  done  by  correspondence  ;  and  these 
letters,  I  suppose,  will  be  published  in  the  work,  which,  if  well 
written — and  he  seems  an  intelligent  man — will  give  a  better 
insight  into  the  habits  and  customs  of  the  Japanese  than  any- 
thing we  have  ever  had. 

Leaving  the  flower  fields  of  the  straits,  we  hurried  along  our 
course,  generally  steaming,  and  sailing  twelve  knots  by  the  log, 
and  passing  the  Great  and  Little  Andamans,  the  cocoa  islands, 
and  the  land  where  the  honorable  company  tried  to  form  a 
penal  settlement  for  Indian  criminals  ;  but  the  first  lot — poor 
wretches  !  only  outlived  their  jailers  a  few  weeks,  for  the  climate 
proved  deadly  to  both  the  white  man  and  the  Indian-^more 
deadly  than  Java,  when  Lord  Minto  first  anchored  at  Batavia, 
or  Hong  Kong,  when  the  English  first  planted  the  British  flag. 

In  six  days  from  Singapore  we  reached  the  Hoogly,  and  anch- 
ored opposite  the  tiger  jungle  Sauger.  Soon  after  our  pilot 
came  on  board,  in  order  to  send  up  the  private  despatches  of 
the  firm,  so  that  they  may  get  them  hours,  and  if  needs  be,  days 
in  advance  of  the  other  merchants  ;  for  a  rise  or  fall  in  the 
opium  market  makes  or  breaks  in  the  end.  Messrs.  Jardine, 
Matheson  &  Co.  have  two  of  their  beautiful  steamers  running 
monthly  between  Hong  Kong  and  Calcutta,  taking  what  freight 


192  STEAM    COMPETITION 


offers,  but  only  occasionally  passengers.  The  object  of  the 
firm  was  to  get  advices  in  advance  of  others.  This  of  course 
creates  jealousy,  and  hence  no  one  will  ship  opium  in  these 
boats  when  other  eligible  chances  offer  ;  and  the  last  time  the 
Fiery  Cross  came  with  only  a  thousand  chests — a  losing  busi- 
ness— where  the  expenses  can't  be  much  less  than  $20,000  a 
voyage,  or,  say  $240,000  a  year  ;  and  eight  dollars  is  about  the 
freight  per  chest  for  opium  ;  but  should  the  owners  fill  the  ship 
when  the  China  market  is  advancing,  then  they  care  little 
whether  freight  offers  or  not.  Opium  like  the  operations  of  the 
dock  Exchange  moves  up  and  down  with  every  mind,  and  the 
speculation  may  lose  or  gain  a  fortune  by  the  arrival  of  a  single 
mail. 

These  boats,  the  Fiery  Cross  and  Landsfelt,  were  built  in 
Glascow,  by  Napier,  some  twelve  or  eighteen  months  ago,  at  a 
cost  of  some  d£45,000  each — constructed  of  iron,  even  to  the 
shrouds,  and,  I  think,  the  masts. 

Their  tonnage,  outside  the  machinery,  is  only  some  420  tons, 
and,  nominally,  they  are  of  three  hundred  horse  power,  which  the 
engineer  says  can  be  worked  up  to  fifteen  hundred.  They  make 
the  passages  from  Hong  Kong  to  Calcutta,  stopping  at  the  half 
way  port,  in  twelve  days — about  the  Cunard  and  Collins  time 
between  England  and  America.  This,  of  course,  is  with  the 
fair  monsoon.  From  Hong  Kong  to  Singapore  the  distance  is 
about  1,430  miles,  if  what  is  termed  the  inside  track  is  taken, 
and  1,480  if  the  outside.  The  entire  distance  to  Calcutta  is 
put  down  at  3,150  miles,  and  it  takes  a  thousand  tons  of  coal 
both  ways.  On  her  trial  trip  the  Fiery  Cross  made  14£  knots, 
and  Capt.  White  her  gentlemanly  commander,  brought  her  out 
from  Glasgow  round  the  Cape  iu  sixty  days.  The  quickest  pas- 
sage down  to  Singapore  from  Hong  Kong  was  4  days  22  hours. 
. .  • 


BETWEEN    INDIA    AND    CHINA.  193 


After  having  to  put  up  with  the  niggardly  stateroom  accom- 
modations of  the  P.  &  0.  steamers,  it  was  most  refreshing  to 
come  booming  down  the  China  seas  in  a  gentleman's  private 
yacht,  where  courtesy  and  comfort,  space  and  good  fare  were  in 
marked  contrast  to  the  great  contract  steamships.  The  Parsees, 
who  have  gradually  relieved  the  European  merchants  of  the 
profit  of  the  opium  trade,  seeing  that  Jardine  had  the  latest 
dates  all  to  themselves,  have  shown  their  enterprise  by  putting 
on  an  opposition  steamer  to  bring  their  own  advices  ;  and  in 
one  or  two  instances  the  Lightning  has  taken  away  the  laurels 
of  the  other  steamships.  The  boat  usually  leaves  Calcutta 
immediately  after  the  monthly  auction  sale.  These  steamships 
have  been  powerfnl  competitors  to  the  Company's  line  between 
Calcutta  and  China,  and  a  similiar  opposition  would  have  a 
good  effect  on  the  other  side  of  India. 


. 

*l       *f*  >* 


OHAPTEE   XIX. 

CALCUTTA,  March  3, 1856. 

Trade  of  Calcutta — Immense  Fleet  of  Vessels — Pilots'  Monopoly — Ap- 
proach to  the  City — Temples,  Trees  and  Bungalows — A  City  Hotel 
and  City  Crowd — Metropolitan  Sights — The  Mint,  Museum,  Floral 
Exhibition,  and  Great  Men,  <fec. 

HOWEVER  conversant  one  may  be  with  the  history  and  statis- 
tics, imports  and  exports  of  Calcutta — obtained  through  the 
channel  of  books,  papers  and  conversation — he  is  hardly  pre- 
pared to  find  the  Hoogly  so  completely  blocked  up,  as  it  were, 
with  shipping.  Before  our  anchor  found  the  bofetom — before 
our  gilt  edged  pilot,  with  his  company,  uniformed  leadsmen, 
came  alongside  in  their  twelve  oared  tub  of  a  row  boat,  the 
rowers  looking  more  like  a  cross  between  an  Orang  outang  and 
a  bootjack  than  a  part  of  the  great  human  family,  uncouth, 
ungainly,  unintellectual  and  uncovered — before  the  pilot  brig,  a 
marked  contrast  to  the  clipper  yachts  of  the  New  York  and 
Boston  pilot  service,  had  bore  away  for  angther  vessel — long 
before  we  passed  the  main  telegraph  station,  and  delivered  our 
.mail  bag  at  Kedjeree  (which  don't  arrive  in  Calcutta  till  the  day 
after  we  are  safely  moored),  I  began  to  realize  that  the  com- 
merce of  Calcutta  was  so  extensive  that  a  hundred  pilots  was 
not  considered  too  many  to  escort  the  world's  shipping  up  and 
down  the  crooks  and  turns,  over  the  mud  points  and  sand  shoals, 


PILOTS'  MONOPOLY.  195 

.   •  .-/• 


and  through  the  winding  channels  of  that  bugbear  of  the  foreign 
shipowner — the  Hoogly.  Steamtug  after  steamtug — some  with 
one,  some  with  two  or  three  deeply  laden  merchantmen — were 
hourly  passing  out  to  sea  ;  and  London  Indiamen  and  American 
clippers  were  continually  heaving  in  sight,  most  of  them  in  bal- 
last, bound  in  to  get  a  cargo,  and  waiting  for  some  steamer  to 
come  to  their  assistance.  I  counted  no  less  than  eleven  steam- 
tug  boats  towing  out  during  the  morning  we  passed  up,  and 
several  ships  were  trying  to  get  out  without  a  steamer — a  dan- 
gerous and  doubtful  economy,  when  they  can  be  obtained,  for 
the  time  lost  would  fally  pay  the  tonnage.  Almost  all  the  way 
the  leadsmen  seemed  busy  with  the  lead,  and  the — "  steady," 
"  port,"  and  "  starboard  "  of  the  gold  laced  pilot — all  done  by 
hand  motion  from  the  paddlebridge — reminded  us  continually  of 
the  most  difficult  navigation  of  the  river ;  but  from  the  few  shipa 
that  are  lost  here,  I  am  led  to  suppose  that  either  the  pilots  are 
the  best  in  the  world,  or  that  the  navigation  is  not  so  intricate  as 
is  the  general  belief.  The  question  of  opening  another  mouth  of 
the  Ganges — the  Matlah — has  lately  been  mooted,  and  nautical 
men,  and  the  commercial  community,  are  strong  in  recommend- 
ing it,  while  the  pilots  wage  a  war  of  words  in  repeating  the 
dangers  and  difficulties  of  the  undertaking.  One  side  asserts 
that  all  that  is  required  is  the  action  of  the  Honorable  Com- 
pany— only  say  the  word,  say  they,  and  ships  of  the  largest 
tonnage,  and  greatest  depth  of  water,  can  find  their  way  along 
the  wide  channel,  even  without  a  pilot  ;  and  if  the  monsoen  is 
fair,  without  a  steamtug,  to  within  thirty  miles  'of  Calcutta, 
where  a  railway  can  be  constructed,  or  a  canal  made,  at  tri- 
fling expense,  to  take  the  goods  to  and  fro,  thus  doing  away 
with  the  never  ending  complication  of  the  holy  river,  and  very 
much  lessening  the  port  charges  on  shipping,  which  are  now 


196  APPROACH   TO   THE   CITY. 


about  five  dollars  to  the  ton,  no  matter  how  large  or  how  small 
the  vessel.  The  subject  looks  so  well  that  the  pilots  begin  to 
feel  alarmed  ;  they  have  held  the  monopoly  so  long,  as  civil 
servants,  that  they  do  not  consider  it  necessary  to  be  over  civil 
to  those  that  employ  them.  For  almost  two  centuries  they 
have  ruled  the  channel,  for  I  think  the  establishment  was  formed 
as  early  as  1669.  But  the  tariff  of  charges  would  seem  to  be 
a  dead  letter,  where  you  have  to  pay  the  pilot  that  takes  you 
out  a  bonus,  or  gratuity,  of  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  per  ship  over  the  established  rates.  No  wonder  the 
East  India  Company  are  accused  by  those  who  do  not  under- 
stand the  workings  of  their  system  of  chicanery,  bribery  and 
extortion.  At  the  moment  you  make  the  lighthouse,  and  get 
your  pilot,  you  are  painfully  made  aware  that  unless  the  pre- 
sent or  bonus  is  given  to  the  honorable  pilot,  your  ship,  when 
she  is  bound  to  sea,  may  be  delayed  a  week,  and  perhaps  may 
touch  the  shore,  simply  to  remind  the  economical  and  remon- 
strative  captain  how  necessary  it  is  to  put  his  hand  deep  in  his 
pockets,  if  he  wishes  to  safely  reach  an  anchorage  or  to  get  fairly 
out  to  sea.  If  the  custom  demands  it,  and  the  rate  is  too  low 
to  support  nine  brigs  and  an  efficient  staff,  why  not  pass  an  act 
increasing  the  tariff,  rather  than  have  the  addition  come  in  the 
Dresent  humiliating  manner,  both  to  the  giver  and  the  receiver  ? 
Although  only  110  miles  from  Sauger  to  Calcutta,  yet  we  were 
nearly  the  entire  day  in  steaming  that  distance.  I  saw  little 
striking  to  the  fancy  during  the  most  of  the  way.  The  river 
narrows  and  widens  every  little  while,  and  the  scenery  on  the 
banks  is  low,  flat  and  uninteresting,  only  broken  by  an  occasion- 
al group  of  natives  at  their  ablutions,  or  by  the  paddy  fields,  a 
few  trees  now  and  then  shading  a  quaint  old  Hindoo  temple,  a 
village  of  thatched  uncomfortable  looking  native  huts,  or  the 


TEMPLES,    BUNGALOWS,    ORIENTAL   RESIDENCES.  197 


European  bungalow  of  the  custom  officer,  who  boards  you  a 
long  way  down,  so  that  nothing  can  be  landed  without  the  tax. 
Ships  and  steamers  in  the  river  and  ancient  temples  and  Indian 
towns  on  the  banks  broke  the  day's  monotony  until  we  reached 
the  foliage  covered  banks  of  the  approaches  to  Calcutta.  Bun- 
galows and  beautiful  trees,  of  great  size,  reminded  us  of  our 
proximity  to  the  city,  and  when  we  passed  the  bend  in  the 
river,  and  garden  reach,  and  the  beantiful  Oriental  residences 
occupied  by  pensioned  Rajahs  and  salaried  officials,  the  mer- 
chant and  the  professional  agent,  all  of  which  buildings  were 
almost  hidden  from  sight  by  trees  and  shrubbery ;  when  we 
saw  the  castellated  pile  of  buildings,  known  as  the  Bishop's 
College  ;  when  we  counted  some  six  or  seven  large  steamers 
laying  alongside  the  P.  and  0.  pier,  and  coal  sheds  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  long  ;  when  the  magnificent  fleet  of  shipping,  arrang- 
ed in  long  lines  by  the  Harbor  Master,  reaching  as  far  as  you 
can  trace  them,  the  masts  towering  high  in  air,  as  thick  as 
pines  in  the  Western  forest,  and  the  city  burst  open  to  our  view, 
with  its  amalgamated  mass  of  European  and  native  dwellings, 
shops  and  go-downs,  church  steeples,  monuments  and  public 
buildings,  higher  than  the  rest,  or  least  conspicuous  among  the 
others — when  we  began  to  blow  off  steam,  and  heard  the  words, 
"  half  speed  "  and  "  stop  her,"  given  from  the  bridge,  we  began 
to  realize  that  our  passage  was  drawing  to  a  close,  and  that  the 
far  famed  City  of  Palaces  was  at  last  before  us,  and  I  was 
anxious  to  get  ashore,  for  there  seemed  to  be  some  half  a  thou- 
sand carriages  driving  up  and  down  the  banks  of  the  river — a 
perfect  holiday  of  gaiety. 

Boatmen  are  as  importunate  here  as  in  China,  and  create  the 
same  confusion — each  one  clamors  for  a  tare  ;  and  if  you  are 
not  careful,  your  luggage  will  get  into  as  many  hands  as  it 


198  SPENCE'S  HOTEL — ACCOMMODATIONS. 


would  among  the  cab  men  at  Buffalo.  A  quarter  of  a  dollar, 
I  was  told,  was  too  much  to  pay  the  captain  of  his  six  oared 
boat  for  taking  three  of  us  ashore  ;  but  really  I  had  not  the 
conscience  to  give  the  poor  naked  devil  less.  Once  on  shore, 
we  headed  for  Spence's  Hotel,  but  had  to  walk,  as  no  carriages 
were  at  hand.  After  a  hot,  dusty  promenade,  escorted  by  about 
twenty  individuals,  who,  as  near  as  I  could  distinguish,  were 
perfectly  willing  to  offer  us  their  services  for  a  small  consider- 
ation, we  found  Spence's — an  hotel  of  immense  dimensions,  and 
as  little  comfort  as  could  be  expected. 

The  house  was  crowded.  Lord  Dalhousie's  immediate  depart- 
ure and  Lord  Canning's  expected  arrival  had  completely  filled 
every  private  and  public  house  in  the  city,  and  I  was  obliged 
to  put  up  with  a  coal  hole  of  a  room,  in  an  outside  wing  on  the 
ground  floor,  without  window,  or  even  a  sash  in  the  door — sans 
wash  bowl,  chair  or  furniture,  and  a  musquito  curtained  bed, 
that  would  have  given  a  well  bred  dog  the  hydrophobia,  it  was 
so  unclean.  My  friend  Fizwilliams  who  came  down  with  me 
from  China  to  take  the  management  of  the  Commercial  Bank 
of  India,  was  so  fortunate  as  to  get  the  only  decent  suite  of 
rooms  there  was  left,  before  I  got  from  the  boat.  You  may 
imagine  that  my  debut  ashore  that  night  would,  to  some  extent, 
remove  the  favorable  impressions  of  the  day  ;  and  they  did,  for 
I  was  already  disgusted.  The  next  day,  however,  I  was  better 
natured,  for  after  I  had  delivered  my  letters  I  found  a  pleasant 
home,  and  a  most  comfortable  suite  of  apartments  were  placed 
at  my  disposal  by  one  of  the  old  merchants  of  Calcutta,  whose 
respected  firm  has  stood  the  blasts  of  Calcutta  panic  for  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century.  In  a  few  days  I  was  also  made  an  honorary 
member  of  the  celebrated  Bengal  Club,  which  gives  the  entree 
to  the  ban  vivants  of  the  place  ;  but  the  formality  of  iutroduc- 


.. 
THE   ROYAL   MINT   AT   CALCUTTA.  199 


ing,  seconding  and  voting  consumed  almost  all  the  time  I  liad 
to  spare  before  the  sailing  of  the  steamer  ;  I  therefore  content- 
ed myself  with  looking  at  the  turtles  in  the  tank,  looking  over 
the  papers  in  the  reading  room,  or  glancing  at  the  books  and 
periodicals  upon  the  table.  Even  the  usual  Saturday  evening 
dinner — the  grand  affair  of  the  week,  I  had  to  forego,  for  other 
eugagemeuts  claimed  the  promises  which  I  had  made,  and  to 
tell  the  truth  my  kind  entertainer  was  always  planning-  some 
new  excursion  — I  hope  some  time  I  may  have  the  pleasure  of 
acknowledging  in  Australia  or  in  my  own  native  land  the  many 
kind  attentions  that  have  been  showered  upon  me. 

The  Nubia  is  to  leave  on  Sunday  morning,  the  9th,  and  I 
have  paid  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for  my  passage  to  Suez, 
and  I  must,  therefore,  not  lose  a  moment  of  my  time  in  roam- 
iug  through  the  sight  seeing  places  in  Calcutta.  First,  to  the 
Royal  Mint,  and  ladies  are  to  accompany  us,  for  Mr.  Ashbur- 
ner  has  got  the  required  permit,  and  will  go  over  the  building 
to  show  us  the  operation  of  the  coining.  Nothing  but  space 
.And  size  marks  the  building — and  the  rusty  looking  sides  show 
the  necessity  of  a  coat  of  paint.  From  room  to  room — com- 
mencing with  the  gold  and  silver  ingots  as  they  are  taken  from 
the  strong  boxes  in  which  they  had  been  sent  from  England  and 
the  Continent,  by  sailing  clippers,  or  most  generally  by  over- 
land mail — and  ending  with  the  beautiful  coin,  all  shining  from 
the  die.  I  saw  the  Mint  at  Philadelphia,  but  did  not  have  the 
time  to  go  through  it.  Here  I  have  had  the  chance  of  seeing 
everything — and  it  is  a  remarkable  picture — for  everything  is- 
done  by  natives,  whose  bodies  perspire  under  the  heat  of  the 
fiery  furnace,  which  makes  them  look  like  fiends  incarnate.  In 
one  apartment  I  saw  them  heating  the  silver  ingots  to  a  red  hot 
heat,  which  were  immediately  carried  to  the  anvil  to  be  cut  in 


200  THE    MUSEUM   AT    CALCUTTA. 


two  and  tested,  to  detect  any  fraud,  they  are  then  taken  to 
another  room  and  weighed  ;  then  they  must  be  flattened  and 
cut  apart,  made  into  strips  and  hammered  out  just  the  width  of 
a  rupee ;  this  was  after  they  had  been  melted  with  the  copper. 
Each  apartment  for  each  duty.  Then  came  the  cutting  of 
the  pieces  ;  about  fifty  stamps,  one  man  at  each  ;  then  they  had 
to  be  rounded  off  and  weighed,  and  afterwards  have  to  go 
through  the  process  of  cleaning,  polishing,  assorting,  to  see  if 
all  are  perfect,  then  comes  the  finishing  touch  of  the  die,  when 
the  device  of  the  East  India  Company,  the  value  of  the  coin, 
the  date  of  the  die,  and  the  profile  of  her  most  gracious  Majesty 
are  impressed  upon  the  silver,  gold  or  copper,  and  the  opera- 
tion of  minting  and  coining  is  completed.  Seldom,  said  the 
overseer,  are  any  of  the  coins  stolen  by  the  coolies  or  laborers, 
but  sometimes  the  sircars  or  writers  and  accountants  have  been 
found  dishonest ;  but  as  the  metal  is  weighed  out  to  each  de- 
partment, the  overseer  of  that  room  is  held  responsible  for  any 
losses,  so  that  the  absence  of  a  single  coin  is  missed.  When  de- 
tected the  purloiners  have  been  known  to  swallow  the  piece, 
and  resort,  to  the  most  revolting  practices  to  hide  the  theft. 

Few  instances  of  fraud  have  been  found  in  rearranging  the 
raw  material,  and  lacs  upon  lacs  of  rupees  are  turned  out  every 
month.  The  poor  operatives  must  be  shortlived,  for  the  intense 
heat  of  the  furnaces  turns  the  black  men  white. 

From  the  Mint  we  drove  to  the  Museum  or  Asiatic  rooms, 
where  everything  Indian  and  many  things  foreign  are  scattered 
about  in  the  ill-assorted  confusion  of  a  badly  regulated  collection 
of  curiosities.  Of  course  everything  here  can  be  seen  in  that 
most  wonderful  collection  hi  the  world,  the  British  Museum  ; 
and  after  exploring  the  eastern  passages  in  that  roomy  mass  of 
buildings  there  is  little  to  be  said  about  the  collection  of  Cal- 


FLORAL    EXHIBITION. 


201 


cutta.  The  ancient  idols  and  tombstones,  the  antiquated  Hin- 
doo carriages  and  emblems  of  their  strange  religion  were  of  the 
most  interest  to  me,  for  the  birds,  insects,  animals,  fossils, 
stones,  &c.,  &c.,  or  at  least  many  that  were  of  the  same  family, 
I  had  seen  before.  Yes,  there  was  one  Other  thing  most  attract- 
ive, and  that  was  a  most  ingeniously  executed  ivory  model,  made 
by  a  native  of  that  famous  temple,  that  palace  tomb,  which  the 
great  king  Shah  Jehan  erected  to  the  memory  of  his  beautiful 
and  accomplished  consort — a  perfect  model  of  what  I  most 
wished  to  see,  but  crfhnot  undergo  the  task  of  the  inland  jour- 
ney—that wonderful  piece  of  ancient  architecture,  which  the 
poet  tourist  of  New  York  calls  "  a  poem,  the  tablets  of  which 
are  marble  and  the  letters  jewels  " — that  chaste  erection,  built 
of  the  purest  marble,  more  elaborate  than  the  tomb  of  Akbar, 
or  anything  recorded  in  the  romantic  history  of  Oriental  splen- 
dor— costing  a  dozen  Indian  fortunes,  and  would  have  emptied 
even  Mr.  Astor's  coffers — for  $15,000,000,  says  the  ancient  his- 
torian, was  the  sum  expended  in  rearing  the  temple,  which  from 
base  to  dome  is  262  feet  in  height.  Read  once  again  "Lallan 
Rookh,"  and  remember  that  this  is  the  resting  place  of  Moore's 
light  of  the  Harem,  the  Nourmahal  of  the  poem.  I  am  fortu- 
nate in  even  seeing  a  model  of  the  enchanting  tomb — the  elegant 
Taj-Mahal  at  Agra.  The  workmanship  of  the  model  was  like 
mosaic  or  the  work  boxes  of  Bombay. 

This  morning  the  annual  flower  exhibition  came  off,  and  the 
entertainment  was  most  refreshing,  for  here  you  have  in  all  their 
native  beauty  the  many  colored,  sweetly  scented  flowers  of  India, 
the  brightest  of  Oriental  plants. 

The  public  buildings  did  not  especially  offer  attraction.  The 
mission  rooms,  Metcalf  Hall  ;  the  Hindoo  college,  where  Eng- 
lish is  so  quickly  learned  by  the  apt  natives  ;  the  $150,000 


GREAT   MEN,   ETC 


English  cathedral,  were  among  the  most  prominent,  after  the 
Government  House. 

I  have  been  most  fortunate  in  my  arrival  here,  first,  because 
the  excessive  heat  of  summer  had  not  commenced  ;  and  second, 
on  account  of  being  here  at  that  most  interesting  period  in  In- 
dian history,  when  two  Governor  Generals  are  opening  the 
doors  of  Government"  House  to  hospitality  and  the  enlivenment 
of  balls  and  parties. 

My  invitation  says,  "  To  meet  Lady  Canning,"  and  I  am  told 
that  the  entertainment  will  be  on  an  extensive  scale,  as  the  city 
is  full  of  civil  and  military  servants  from  all  parts  of  India. 
More  to-morrow,  or  next  day. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

CALCUTTA,  March,  4,  1856. 

Calcutta  Society — Entertainment  to  Lady  Canning — The  Ball  and  its 
Beauties — The  Supper  and  Celebrities  Present — Ladies,  Warriors  and 
Rulers — Eastern  Costumes  and  High  Dignitaries — Lord  Canning's 
Rule,  <fcc. 

MY  card  of  invitation  said  nine  o'clock,  and  at  ten  my  carriage 
was  at  the  door  ;  and  although  I  thought  I  was  too  early,  I 
I  found  myself  late  ;  for,  in  one  respeet,  we  may  follow  instruct- 
ively the  East  Indians'  example,  and  that  is  in  keeping  good 
hours.  The  entrance,  in  fact  the  several  entrances,  through  the 
several  gateways  to  the  Palace,  had  a  most  imposing  appearance, 
both  sides  of  the  well  made  road  being  lined  with  lamps  with 
cocoannt  oil,  blazing  from  every  post  in  the  grounds — a  sight  as 
novel  to  me  as  the  Chinese  lanterns  which  so  tastefully  illuminate 
the  gardens  of  the  Shanghae  merchants,  when  they  wish  to  give 
an  entertainment  on  an  extensive  scale.  Entering  at  the  main 
doorway,  there  were  some  two  hundred  servants  squatting  in 
rows  in  the  large  entrance  hall,  dressed  in  more  than  all  the 
colors  of  the  dolphin  or  the  rainbow — whether  private  servants 
or  those  belonging  to  the  house,  I  did  not  learn,  but  could  but 
notice  their  peculiar  sitting  posture,  like  so  many  pelicans  on  a 
beach.  Walking  through  the  lower  hall,  passing  at  every  time 
the  Sepoy  guard,  we  were  shown  up  a  long  staircase,  and  ush- 


204  THE    BALL    AND    ITS    BEAUTIES. 

ered  into  the  reception  room,  without  having  our  names  an- 
nounced, a  contrast  to  such  entertainments  in  London,  where 
your  name  is  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth,  more  especially  when, 
your  "  carriage  stops  the  way."  On  inquiry  I  found  that  it 
was  not  the  custom,  and  hastened  through  the  outer  hall  to  see 
the  dancers,  whose  numbers  fairly  crowded  one  of  the  largest 
halls  I  ever  witnessed.  Before  joining  in  the  dance  I  wished  to 
have  the  "  lions  "  of  the  evening  pointed  out,  and  I  was  particu- 
larly fortunate  in  having  for  a  companion  the  accomplished 

Miss ,  whose  name  I  find  against  No.  11  for  a  polka. 

Lord  Canning,  in  a  stiff  black  state  dress,  stood  at  the  head  of 
the  room,  in  front  of  the  chair  of  state — a  native  officer  standing 
on  either  side,  with  what  I  supposed  was  the  mace  of  office. 
The  new  Governor  seemed  fairly  lost  amid  the  blaze  of  chan- 
deliers, whose  dazzling  brightness  reflected  from  the  prismatic 
glare  made  my  eyes  ache  with  pain,  so  much  so  that  I  lost  half 
the  enjoyment  of  the  evening.  Lady  Susan  Ramsey,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Lord  Dalhousie,  was  on  the  right,  leading  off,  with  all  the 
gaiety  of  youth,  the  first  quadrille — her  partner  some  gallant 
officer  of  the  Indian  army,  who  wore  upon  his  breast  the  medals 
of  many  battles.  The  daughter  of  the  Commander-in  Chief  was 
in  the  same  set,  and  received  particular  attention  from  the  ele- 
gant aid-de-camp  by  her  side.  Neither  of  these  young  ladies 
need  look  for  their  portraits  in  the  "  Book  of  Beauty."  Lady 
Canning  did  not  dance  while  I  was  present,  but  reclining  in 
courtly  style  upon  the  regal  chair,  received  the  court  from  her 
honored  lord  and  the  several  distinguished  civilians  and  military 
officers  present.  The  formality  of  her  reception  was  freezing, 
for  that  aristocratic  bow  was  worse  than  an  electric  shock. 
Her  dress  was  of  white  tulle,  over  a  white  satin  skirt,  looped  up 
with  red  roses,  with  a  head-dress  of  red  velvet  and  pearls — not, 


THE    SUPPER    ROOM.  205 


iu  my  opinion,  elegant  ;  but  the  blaze  of  diamonds  compensated 
for  what  was  wanting  in  taste.  She  still  possesses  the  marks  of 
early  beauty,  but  time  and  the  dissipations  of  her  exalted  posi- 
tion in  London  have  taken  from  the  attractions  of  youth.  I 
found  more  amusement  in  promenading  through  the  wide  passage 
ways,  and  in  noticing  the  cliqueish  movements  of  the  guests, 
than  in  dancing.  In  the  outer  room,  Lord  Dalhousie  was  re- 
ceiving his  friends,  but  seldom  rose  from  the  couch  without 
showing  that  too  much  exertion  gave  him  pain,  for  physically, 
his  constitution  is  shattered  by  hereditary  and  other  insinuat- 
ing diseases  ;  but  his  mind,  strengthened  with  the  weakness  of 
the  body.  Administrative  ability  and  decision  of  character  are 
stamped  upon  his  countenance,  and  judging  from  his  features  he 
must  be  capable  of  bearing  great  mental  labor.  Poor  man, 
what  is  all  his  greatness,  with  ill  health  incurable,  always  staring 
him  in  the  face.  Notwithstanding  the  exertion  of  the  Puukehs, 
the  rooms  were  oppressively  warm,  and  the  dancers  found  more 
color  in  their  usual  pale  cheeks  than  they  had  noticed  for  many 
a  day  ;  but  as  a  general  rule  their  complexion  was  not  improved 
by  the  addition.  The  music  of  the  well  organized  bands  at  the 
extreme  end  of  the  dancing  saloon,  was  most  exhilarating,  and 
served  to  give  the  only  animation  the  formality  of  the  ball  al- 
lowed. Later  I  saw  a  significant  movement  of  the  great  leaders 
towards  the  stairs,  all  pairing  off  with  punctilious  ceremony,  and 
following  on  I  found  myself  in  the  supper  room,  a  room  even 
larger  than  the  saloon,  the  tables  arranged  after  the  shape  of 
three-fourths  of  a  square,  and  a  long  one  in  the  entrance  aisle 
adjoining,  and  seats  and  plates  for  at  least  fifteen  hundred 
guests  ;  and  yet  there  were  many  who  remained  without  a  place, 
myself  among  the  rest,  for  I  was  too  busy  in  noticing  the  move- 
ments of  those  around  me  to  look  out  for  number  one.  Ajneri- 


206  CELEBRITIES    PRESENT. 


can  apples,  American  biscuits  and  American  ices  were,  in  reality, 
the  luxuries  of  the  table,  especially  to  me  ; .  but  everything 
that  money  can  purchase  in  the  East  helped  to  ornament  the 
banquet  and  administer  to  the  palate  ;  but  the  most  conspic- 
uous dish  of  an  Indian  table  is  curry,  in  as  many  forms  as  there 
are  castes  in  Bengal,  but  that  dish  is  never  seen  upon  the  sup- 
per table.  The  banquet  hall  was  too  large  to  be  adorned,  and 
the  guests  too  numerous  to  enjoy  themselves,  and  the  supper 
passed  off  with  only  the  motions  of  the  eaters  and  the  rattling 
of  the  plates  and  knives,  for  there  was  not  a  sentiment  given 
from  the  noble  guest  at  the  head  of  the  hall,  not  even  the  health 
of  the  Queen.  As  silently  as  they  entered  they  left  the  table 
and  again  the  dancers  are  on  the  floor  ;  but  I  am  not  among 
them,  for  I  find  peculiar  interest  in  watching  the  motions  of  the 
State  prisoners,  and  distinguished  natives,  who,  dressed  in  the 
picturesque  costume  of  their  country,  had  been  invited  to  par- 
take in  the  festivities  of  those  who  had  brought  them  to  their 
present  humiliating  position.  Kings,  Princes  and  Rajahs,  or 
their  descendants,  were  there  bowing  and  cringing  under  the 
iron  rule  of  military  power.  There  was  the  grandson  of  the 
great  warrior  chief  who  so  long  kept  the  English  at  bay  in  his 
almost  impenetrable  fastnesses  that  nature  had  made  for  him, 
and  also  in  that  stronghold  of  which  European  architects  must 
have  drawn  the  plan — Seringapatam — Tippoo  Sultan,  the  son 
of  the  great  Hyder  Ali,  Ghoolam  Mahomet,  and  his  son  Feeroz 
Shah,  were  the  descendants  of  those  great  men  who,  three 
generations  ago,  were  the  terror  of  the  Deccan  ;  and  had 
his  great  ancestor  lived  to  hold  his  power,.  Ghoolam  would  have 
been  the  most  powerful  and  the  wealthiest  of  all  the  Indian 
princes.  These  two  have  just  returned  from  England,  where 
they  were  courted  and  fited  by  crowned  heads  and  noble  peers 


WARRIORS   AND    RULERS.  r         201 


the  most  distinguished  lions  of  the  day — bnt  at  Government 
House  they  pass  unnoticed,  and  are  taught  to  remember  that 
they  are  beggars  only,  dependent  upon  an  English  pension. 

There,  too,  were  the  brave  Seikhs  of  the  mountain  passes, 
those  bold  chieftains  who  fought  like  tigers  in  their  dens — 
Sheer  Singh  and  Chutter  Singh — who  held  their  country  during 
that  memorable  campaign  of  '48  and  '49,  and  finally,  overpow- 
ered by  the  superior  force  brought  against  them — after  going 
through  the  celebrated  battles  of  Chillian  Wallah  and  Goo-je- 
rab,  were  finally  brought  to  bay  at  Rawul  Pindee,  where,  after 
the  most  obstinate  war,  they  surrendered  their  sabres  to  Sir 
Walter  Gilbert,  the  able  General  who  was  made  a  G.  C.  B. 
and  a  Baronet  for  his  bravery  and  judgment  on  that  occasion. 
It  was  pitiful  to  see  brave  warriors  so  painfully  humiliated,  for 
they  moved  about  the  room  in  their  stocking  feet  like  so  many 
automatons,  shrinking  and  cringing  before  their  conquerers, 
evincing  the  greatest  pleasure  in  receiving  the  least  attention 
from  the  civilians  in  the  room.  Their  appearance  without  shoes 
is  by  order  of  the  Governor  General,  to  remind  them  of  their 
disgrace,  and  to  show  proper  respect  to  those  that  hold  tfie 
sway — this  I  am  told  is  the  custom  of  the  land.  This  last  tax 
upon  their  pride  might  at  least  have  been  passed  over,  for  why 
strike  them  while  they  are  down  ?  These  Princes,  it  will  be 
remembered,  were  the  chieftains  of  the  Punjaub,  and  their  sur- 
render was  the  signal  of  .annexing  that  great  kingdom  to  the 
British  empire.  The  Ameers  of  Scind,  I  believe,  are  also 
among  the  dark  faces  opposite.  Other  warriors  as  brave  as 
they  have  been  unfortunate — the  captives,  or  rather  the  victims, 
of  Sir  Charles  Napier,  who,  following  the  model  of  Perry  on 
the  lakes,  and  the  great  Roman  General,  and  of  Bosquet  at 
the  Malakoff,  marked  his  despatch  by  its  brevity.  The  pun  was 


208  THE    SUPPER   AND    CELEBRITIES    PRESENT. 


too  good  to  be  lost,  and  the  simple  Latin  word  "  Peccavi," 
went  forward  to  the  Governor  General — /  have  sinned.  No 
more  were  shown  me,  but  I  believe  there  were  several  other  dis- 
tinguished chieftains,  who  were  now  but  pensioners.  There 
were  also  specimens  of  native  scholars,  men  of  great  abilities 
as  lawyers  and  advocates,  present — men  whose  intellect  would 
measure  argument  with  Western  minds,  and  whose  high  posi- 
tion in  the  company's  courts  stamp  them  with  the  unmistakable 
<•  mark  of  genius.  I  suppose  that  Hur-Chunder  Ghose,  the  na- 
tive Judge  of  the  small  cause  court,  may  be  considered  one  of 
the  most  accomplished  men  of  the  time.  His  manners  bespeak 
the  gentleman,  and  he  seems  as  familiar  with  the  world's  his- 
tory as  those  who  make  it  their  especial  study  ;  and  the  native 
counsel  to  the  government,  Rama  Purshad  Roy,  is  another 
ornament  of  the  Bengal  bar,  and  possesses  the  confidence  of  all 
who  are  brought  in  contact  with  him  ;  and  native  bankers  and 
native  merchants  are  noticeable  among  the  Oriental  costumes 
here — for  there  is  Pursuunee  Roomar  Taj  ore,  assistant  clerk  of 
the  Legislative  Council,  cousin  of  the  famous  Dwarkanath,  who 
made  such  a  furore  when  he  arrived  in  London — even  petted 
by  peeresses,  and  especially  noticed  by  the  Queen,  who  pre- 
sented him  with  her  miniature  ;  and  yet  this  man,  I  am  told, 
was  a  greater  scamp  in  his  way  than  Tippoo  Saib — for  while 
he  was  giving  one  lac  of  rupees  to  some  charitable  institution, 
he  was  grinding  -two  lacs  out  of  his  half  starved  Ryots,  and 
there,  also,  is  Rum-Gopal  Ghose,  a  merchant  of  kingly  wealth, 
but  not  loaded  down  with  jewels  like  some  of  the  rest.  Many 
of  these  princes,  and  natives  not  of  royal  family,  were  walking 
jeweller's  shops.  Pearls,  emeralds  and  diamonds,  and  precious 
stones  of  priceless  value  dazzled  in  the  light  of  the  candelabras, 
and  were  reflected  back  from  the  mirrors  ;  and  silks  and  satins, 

' 


EASTERN    COSTUME HIGH    DIGNITARIES.  209 


too  expensive  to  be  purchased,  marked  some  of  the  more 
princely  of  the  native  guests.  Some  of  the  State  prisoners 
were  seen  to  walk  directly  before  Lord  Dalhousie — perhaps  to 
show  his  countrymen  present  that  their  rank  was  higher  than 
his,  or  that  they  were  as  bold  as  he  was  proud — hesitating,  at 
first,  as  if  making  up  their  minds  and  then  advancing. 

The  ball  is  not  a  fancy  ball,  and  yet  it  would  almost  seem  so 
to  a  stranger,  for  the  dresses  of  the  native  dignitaries  at  once 
attract  the  observer  ;  and  these,  together  with  the  gay  uniforms 
of  the  Indian  officers,  sprinkled  about  the  room,  in  marked 
contrast  to  the  plain  black  dress  of  the  well  paid  civilian,  give 
a  Newport  look  to  the  entertainment ;  for,  with  the  heads  of 
the  army  and  nayy,  intermingled  with  a  regiment  of  deposed 
princes,  and  ladies  dressed  in  the  present  many  colored  fashions, 
you  have  a  tableau  not  often  seen  in  the  West. 

About  one  the  guests  began  to  leave,  and  passing  through 
the  reception  room,  gave  a  parting  shake  of  the  hand,  or,  where 
not  so  well  acquainted,  a  farewell  bow  to  the  distinguished  man 
who,  for  eight  years  past  (say  his  friends)  has  so  ably  ruled  the 
destinies  of  British  India. 

I  need  not  say  that  I  was  disappointed  with  the  Government 
House.  Without,  the  green  uncovered  lawn  is  peculiarly 
English,  and  I'll  admit  I  liked  the  emerald  look  ;  but  not  a 
tree  gives  shade  to  the  grounds  for  they  breed  musquitoes  and 
barricade  the  air,  said  my  informant ;  but  really  I  cannot  en-  . 
dorse  the  excuse  ;  for  what  is  more  beautiful  than  the  umbra- 
geous coolness  of  their  shadow?  There  is  one  break  to  the 
monotonous  and  bare  appearance  of  the  grounds,  and  that  was 
the  miniature  garden  plot,  where  flowers  and  shrubbery  grow  in 
tropical  beauty.  The  four  huge  brick  and  mortar  ends  of  the 
house,  topped  off  with  the  iron  dome  in  the  centre,  present  no , 


210  LORD  CANNING'S  RULE. 


attractive  style  of  architecture,  and  there  is  nothing  more  com- 
manding within.  You  will  notice  nothing  more  marked,  while 
promenading  from  room  to  room,  than  the  luxurious  wealth  of 
space  and  the  parsimonious  poverty  of  furniture. 

Lord  Canning  has  launched  his  bark  on  the  wave  of  Indian 
public  opinion  ;  but  he  has  done  it  clumsily  enough — for  I  saw 
him  land  with  flags  streaming  over  and  about  him,  and  the 
cannon  roaring  from  the  fort ;  •  the  state  carriage  waited  for  him, 
and  the  noble  bearing  horsemen  of  the  native  cavalry  showed 
their  pride  in  being  the  body  guard  of  the  Governor  General. 
Slowly  he  moved  along  the  Sepoy  lines,  which  were  ranged 
along  either  side  of  the  roadway,  from  the  Chandpaul  Ghaut 
to  Goverment  House,  where  the  great  dignitaries  of  the  land 
were  waiting  to  give  him  welcome.  He  gazed  vacantly  upon 
the  novel  sight !  but  even  when  passing  European  officers  who 
salute  him,  and  fair  ladies  who  wave  their  handkerchiefs,  there 
is  no  recognition  from  his  lordship,  while  Lady  Canning  ack- 
nowledges, and  most  gracefully  too,  the  courtesy.  How  odd 
that  he  should  be  so  very  austere  1  When  he  arrives  at  Govern- 
ment House  his  manners  dre  formal,  even  to  meeting  his  ac- 
quaintance Lord  Dalhousie.  Public  opinion  is  dead  in  India, 
else  "most  certainly  there  would  be  more  animation  and  less 
coldness  in  a  state  reception.  How  different  all  this  looks  from 
the  Anglo-Saxon  customs  !  A  few  months,  and  if  he  shares 
the  fate  of  those  who  have  gone  before  him,  Lord  Canning  will 
be  the  best  abused  man  in  India,  for  the  young  Bengalists  are 
radicals. 


OHAPTEB   XXI. 

CALCUTTA,  March  6,  1866. 

An  Evening  Drive — Glorious  Sunset — Scenes  in  the  Suburbs  of  Calcut- 
ta— A  Glance  at  the  River — Forts  on  the  Banks — Notabilities  Out 
Riding — Lord  Dalhousie's  Departure. 

THE  esplanade,  more  than  all  else  thus  far  in  the  Bengal  capi- 
tal, has  left  the  most  lasting  impression  on  my  mind — when  the 
sun  shuts  off  his  burning  brightness — just  before  twilight  has  let 
her  curtain  down,  and  pinned  it  with  a  star — when  the  Indian 
day  has  departed,  and  the  Indian  evening  is  born.  About  the 
hour  of  five  o'clock  the  stranger  ia  introduced  to  a  scene  of 
gaiety  and  gladness,  a  picture  of  Oriental  and  Anglo-Saxon 
life  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  cross  from  off  the  memory's 
tablet.  I  am  no  enthusiast,  nor  can  I  paint,  my  youth  has  - 
been  buried  among  the  dry  leaves  of  commerce — the  cobweb 
realities  of  the  counting  house — the  invoice,  the  ledger,  and 
the  ship — and  now,  on  the  restless  drifting  of  never-censing 
change,  I  am  purchasing  dearly  enough  by  absence  from  my 
family,  my  first  draught  of  Oriental  customs  and  Indian  habits. 
The  evening  drive,  however,  as  delightful  as  it  is  strange,  would 
make  me  forget  my  commission  account,  were  not  the  familiar 
names  of  clipper  ships  always  before  me  as  they  range  along 
the  anchorage.  All  there  is  of  European  and  Western  life  in 
Calcutta  is  reflected  every  evening  on  the  course  ;  and  as  I  lay 


212                      SCENES    IN    THE    SUBURBS    OF    CALCUTTA. 
•+•      jf*       

off  so  lazily  in  my  barouche,  I  can  but  contemplate  the  scene 
so  singularly  beautiful.  Ik.  Marvel  should  have  driven  on  the 
Course  after  he  had  been  brooding  over  his  sea  coal  fire.  There 
was  the  holy  river  coursing  far  up  above  the  city,  far  away  be- 
yond the  suburbs — past  the  hunting  fields  of  the  fierce  Mahrat- 
tas — winding  its  many  coils  through  the  palace  gardens  on  its 
sacred  banks,  past  the  umbrageous  banyan,  the  palm,  the 
sycamore  and  cocoa  trees,  past  heathen  temples,  rusting  under 
the  corroding  influence  of  climate  and  of  time  ;  and  as  it  loses 
itself  in  the  distance  far  beyond  Barrackpore,  and  your  imagi- 
nation traces  it  beyond  your  visional  reach,  torturing  its  bends 
through  the  vast  possessions  of  the  honorable  company  and  the 
paddy  fields  that  give  so  many  millions  nourishment — past  the 
wheat  and  the  corn  and  the  indigo  plantations — near  where  the 
poppy  blossoms  bloom  under  government  stimulants,  to  raise  a 
few  more  lacs  to  pay  the  army,  no  matter  how  great  the  misery 
that  every  chest  of  opium  may  occasion  in  the  seaport  families 
of  the  Celestial  Empire — past  the  Zemindars,  whose  tyrant 
power  grinds  the  life  blood  out  of  the  poor  ryot  at  the  rate  of 
twelve  dollars  per  annum,  without  rations,  or  house,  or  home 
(the  lion's  share  of  which  finds  its  way  into  the  Bengal  treasury) 
— worse  in  some  instances  than  the  Legrees  of  "  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin,"  that  raised  such  a  storm  of  virtuous  indignation  and 
false  philanthropy  at  the  Sutherland  House — past  the  Saracenic 
ruins  of  Hindoo  temples,  endearing  because  so  gray  with  age, 
by  the  Sepoy  camp,  where  English  officers  are  the  lords  of  na- 
tive regiments — till  it  finally  loses  itself  among  the  valleys  that 
base  the  mountain  ranges,  and  in  company  with  some  of  its 
branches  waters  the  roots  of  the  towering  Himalayas — lost  as 
you  may  be  in  reverie,  your  fancy  is  now  arrested  by  the  soul 
stirring  music  of  the  regimental  bands  (made  perfectly  harmo- 


*» 


A    GLANCE    AT   THE    RIVER.  21$ 


nious  by  constant  years  of  practice)  in  the  garden  enclosure, 
where  nurses  and  children  most  do  congregate,  and  where,  in 
the  little  arbor,  you  may  find  an  American  apple  or  an  Ameri- 
can ice — fellow  countrymen  one  is  .so  glad  to  meet  with.  The 
thrill  of  martial  airs  ringing  through  the  trees,  and  the  volup- 
tuous breeze  of  the  Indian  evening  fanning  off  the  burthensome 
cares  of  day,  would  put  you  asleep  in  your  easy  moving  car- 
riage were  your  senses  not  kept  always  active  by  the  passing 
and  repassing  of  "  fair  ladies  and  brave  men."  All  that  is  at- 
tractive in  Calcutta  may  be  seen  at  the  daily  reunion  of  the 
drive.  The  scene  is  most  unlike  anything  I  ever  witnessed. 
The  Praya  Grande  of  Macao  faces  the  water  and  so  does  the 
grass  plot  at  Singapore — the  Bund  at  Shanghae — the  Botanical 
Gardens  at  Sydney— the  Governor's  road  to  his  new  residence, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Derwent,  in  Tasmania  ;  but  not  as  the 
esplanade  looks  upon  the  Hoogly — for  here  you  combine  so  many 
attractions.  Some  seventy  American  banners  have  been  stream- 
ing during  the  day,  from  the  beautiful  clippers  of  my  own  fair 
land — and  the  flags  of  England  and  of  France,  and  Continen- 
tal States  have  been  furled  for  the  night,  again  to  open  their 
gaudy  colors  in  the  morning. 

The  ships  of  all  nations  are  crowding  each  other  in  long  rows 
— three  and  four  abreast — for  miles  along  the  pleasure  ground, 
some  deeply  laden  and  waiting  Impatiently  to  commence  their 
voyage,  and  be  towed  to  sea — (for  few  shipmasters  care  to  trust 
themselves  without  a  steamtug,  even  did  the  haughty  pilot  con- 
sent to  take  them  down,with  canvass) — others  have  just  arrived, 
and  in  ballast  trim,  you  at  once  detect  the  symmetrical  lines  of 
the  New  England  clipper  model — some  bring  their  charters 
with  them,  some  find  them  at  their  agents',  the  overland  mail 
anticipating  the  ship's  arrival — others  load  on  owner's  account, 


214  SCENES    ON    THE    BANKS    OF   THE    RIVER. 


while  not  a  few  are  seeking  for  employment ;  but  just  now  the 
uncertainty  in  the  affairs  of  Europe  makes  the  freighting  busi- 
ness tremble,  and  the  rate  is  daily  dropping  from  thirty  dollars, 
and  possibly  may  go  ten,  and  high  sounding  names  who  have 
chartered  ships  in  England  and  America  at  the  advanced  rates 
will  be  fortunate  if  they  are  able  to  fulfill  the  charters.  The 
chartering  of  American  clippers  through  London  brokers,  for 
houses  in  Calcutta,  is  merely  a  matter  of  speculation,  as  Jacob 
Little  would  purchase  stocks  in  Wall  street.  If  freights  ad- 
vance all  goes  well,  if  they  fall,  thereby  hangs  a  tale  ;  but  to 
me  the  times  look  as  blue  as  an  indigo  box.  Alongside  the 
Boston  clipper,  the  staunch  East  Indiaman,  belonging  to  the 
Greens,  the  Wigrams  and  the  Lindsays  of  England  ;  the  teak 
built  full  modeled  craft  of  the  Honorable  Company,  still 
staunch  and  strong,  though  half  a  century  old  ;  the  long,  grace- 
ful propellers  of  the  P.  and  0.  seeming  to  say,  in  their  purse- 
proud  insolence,  oppose  me  if  you  dare — all  these  are  to  be 
seen  during  your  evening  drive  and  while  your  object  is  plea- 
sure. The  merchant,  unknowingly,  wanders  from  silks  and 
satins  to  freights  and  charters,  and  hence  my  discursive  note  ; 
for  when  taking  my  pen  I  did  not  intend  to  speak  of  linseed 
and  saltpetre,  of  naval  architecture  and  East  Indian  monopo- 
lies, but  to  describe  the  sensations,  that  are  sure  to  possess  the 
traveler  as  he  moves  along  the  picturesque  banks  of  the  Hoogly. 
The  first  evening  I  was  early  on  the  Course,  which  gave  me 
ample  time  to  visit  that  splendid  work  of  military  tactics,  Fort 
William,  whose  formidable  ramparts  at  once  show  the  Yanban 
school,  with  all  the  improvements  of  the  present  day  ;  and 
riding  through  the  winding  avenues  I  was  struck  with  the  welt 
arranged  barracks,  the  neat  architectural  chapel,  the  quarters 
of  the  officers,  the  green  sward  parade  ground,  prisons,  &c., 


FORTS    ON    THE    BANKS ELEGANT    EQUIPAGES.  215 


which  told  of  the  skill  and  knowledge  of  the  constructor  and 
the  present  garrison  engineer.  The  grounds  cover  a  large  area, 
and  to  properly  fortify  the  fort  ten  thousand  men  are  required. 
It  would  be  difficult  for  any  Indian  army  to  take  it,  at  least  in 
thirty  days,  however  strong.  It  answers  two  purposes — first, 
in  protecting  the  Hoogly,  for  no  enemy  would  dare  to  pass  its 
frowning  guns  ;  and  second,  in  case  of  invasion,  thirty  thousand 
troops  can  find  protection  within  its  walls  and  embankment*. 

No  Surajah  Dowlah  would  have  the  courage  for  another  in- 
vasion, and  the  fierce  bands  of  Mahratta  horsemen  that  for- 
merly swept  through  Bengal  are  only  known  in  history. 

On  returning  through  one  of  the  military  roads,  I  found  the 
esplanade  crowded  with  elegant  equipages,  and  evening  after 
evening  FWas  driven  along  the  drive,  watching  the  interesting 
spectacle — now  walking  in  long  rows,  and  now  hurrying  on  in 
delightful  confusion,  carriage  behind  carriage,  their  occupants 
dressed  as  for  a  ball.  You  saw  all  that  was  gay  in  the  capital ; 
and  many  are  the  romantic  stories  of  love  and  of  gossip  which 
are  told  you,  if  your  companion  be  a  lady,  and  of  thrilling  ad- 
venture and  hairbreadth  escapes,  if  of  the  other  sex.  Where 
a  community  have  held  an  evening  levee  at  the  same  hour,  and 
at  the  same  place,  day  after  day,  Sundays  not  excepted,  for 
generations,  in  an  Indian  country,  there  must  be  many  incidents 
on  record  of  the  romance  and  misery  of  Indian  life.  Some  of 
the  establishments  would  not  blush  to  be  seen  in  Hyde  Park, 
and  many  of  the  Arab  horses  on  the  green  would  attract  at- 
tention in  Rotten  row.  The  distinguished  potentates  of  the 
company  spare  no  expense  in  endeavoring  to  eclipse  their  neigh- 
bors, and  salaries,  surprising  to  the  officials  of  other  lands,  are 
squandered  as  quickly  as  they  are  received.  The  Governor 
General's  carriage  is  lost  sight  of  the  moment  some  of  the  na- 


216  NOTABILITIES    OUT   RIDING. 


tive  princes  make  their  appearance,  and  the  Comma nder-in- 
Chief  of  the  army,  the  members  of  the  Council,  who  receive 
forty  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  and  other  high  salaried 
officers  of  the  civil  service,  are  not  able  to  cope  with  the  lux- 
uriant extravagance  of  Baboos  who  count  their  wealth  by  lacs 
of  pounds. 

Count  D'Orsay,  as  he  is  dubbed,  for  having  been  horse- 
whipped for  twice  throwing  a  bouquet  into  a  lady's  carriage, 
seems  to  be  the  native  Beau  Brummel  of  the  Course  in  overy- 
thing  but  wealth,  for  his  estates  are  princely.  There  must  be 
white  blood  in  his  veins,  for  his  complexion  is  fair  and  his  fea- 
tures are  noticeable  for  their  regularity.  The  Baboo  Mullicks 
are  also  out  in  their  splendid  teams,  and  I  note  another  native 
"  b'hoy "  in  a  New  York  buggy ;  and  there  is  Ghoolam 
Mahomet  on  a  beautiful  Arab,  prancing,  and-  near  by  is  the 

belle  of   Calcutta,  the  beautiful  Miss ,  but   the   Indian 

climate  has  driven  the  roses  from  her  cheek,  and  the  lilies  that 
have  displaced  them  tell  of  ill  health  and  a  longing  for  her 
English  home.  Hindoos  of  high  rank,  dressed  in  their  attrac- 
tive garb  of  many  colors,  and  Mussulmen  whose  fanaticism  has 
often  made  them  brave  in  war  ;  Rajahs  with  a  princely  pension, 
and  Princes  whose  wealth  cannot  be  counted  ;  military  leaders 
who  have  won  position  and  honors  by  bravery,  and  those  who 
have  never  seen  action,  although  gray  in  the  service.  These 
and  more  are  passing,  and  merchants  are  here,  and  tradesmen 
and  a  little  way  on  you  see  a  row  of  buggies,  the  turn  out  of 
the  American  captain,  (the  charge  for  which  I  did  not  fully 
understand  when  examining  the  disbursement  account  of  Boston 
packets  that  had  been  to  Calcutta)  whose  clipper  is  the  theme 
of  comment — she  is  kept  so  neat  and  tidy  ;  and  when  riding  on 
the  course  with  his  own  team,  he  looks  as  proud  as  the  best  of 


HOUSEHOLD  TROOPS,  OR  BODY  ArARD.          217 


them.  I  enjoyed  the  Course  ;  it  was  so  cheerful  to  meet  again 
with  those  whom  we  had  met,  to  gaze  again  upon  the  shipping, 
to  note  again  the  massive  strength  of  Fort  William,  to  feel  the 
refreshing  coolness  of  the  sea  air  as  it  came  up  the  river  with 
the  tide,  to  fall  perhaps  into  a  doze  as  the  distant  music  trembles 
on  the  air,  and  awaking,  to  notice  some  barouche  with  livery 
more  gay  than  the  rest,  or  some  lady  who  knows  that  she  is 
the  object  of  attraction.  The  Calcuttaites  have  become  so 
habituated  to  the  evening  drive,  that  they  would  as  soon  forego 
their  meals  or  their  ablutions  as  to  omit  the  daily  reunion,' which 
combines  the  pleasure  of  society  with  the  luxury  of  recreation. 
Lord  Dalhousie's  departure  was  early  announced,  and  ar- 
rangements during  the  past  few  days  have  been  consummated 
to  usher  him  out  with  the  same  pomp  and  circumstance  as  Lord 
Canning  was  ushered  in.  As  early  as  four  o'clock  the  regi- 
ments began  to  gather,  and  by  half  past  four  the  companies 
had  lined  the  road  from  the  palace  to  the  steamer.  And  here 
again  I  had  the  opportunity  of  admiring  the  drill  and  tactics 
of  the  Sepoy  troops.  Many  of  tlrern  are  noble  looking  fellows, 
and  some  of  the  native  officers  compare  favorably  in  form  and 
movement  with  the  white  man.  The  household  troops,  or  body 
guard,  are  all  picked  men,  and  you  would  not  wish  to  see  a 
finer  body  of  cavalry.  At  five  o'clock  the  guns  from  the  fort 
began  to  roar,  and  we  at  once  knew  that  his  Lordship  had 
started  from  Government  House.  An  hour  later  the  Governor 
was  in  his  yacht,  the  regiments  were  marching  to  their  bar- 
racks ;  the  friends  of  the  Governor,  under  Prinsep's  monumen- 
tal tablet,  hud  waved  their  last  handkerchief  and  resumed  their 
carriages  and  their  gossip  ;  the  pleasure  seekers  were  again 
upon  the  Course,  to  comment  upon  the  occurrences  of  his  de- 


218  Lot     DALHOUSIE'S  DEPARTURE. 


parture  ;  the  coolies  began  to  disperse  ;  the  cannon  were 
hushed,  the  bells  ceased  to  vibrate,  and  Lord  Dalhousie  was  on 
his  way  to  England,  to  be  censured  and  be  praised,  while  Lord 
Canning  was  left  to  govern  India. 


N 


r\ 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

CALCUTTA,  March  8,  1856. 

Botany  and  Natural  History  at  and  from  Barrackpore — A  Visit  to  the 
Gardens — Hindoo  Temples,  Piety  and  Worshippers — Burning  of  the 
Dead — European  Tradesmen  in  Calcutta — Native  Gambling — The 
Ochterlong  Monument — A  Look  at  the  City  from  the  Top,  Ac. 

MY  trip  to  Barrackpore — some  twelve  miles  by  the  river — I 
was  much  pleased  with,  for  our  party  was  a  jovial  one,  composed 
of  Americans  and  Englishmen,  and  the  day  was  cool  for  the  sea- 
son. A  native  boat  and  a  native  crew,  a  fair  tide  and  a  flowing 
sheet,  took  us  to  our  landing  place  in  two  hours  time,  and,  with 
umbrellas  over  our  heads,  we  passed  the  day  in  walking  through 
the  extensive  grounds  of  the  Governor's  country  park  and  resi- 
dence, and  could  but  admire  the  art  that  made  the  grounds  so 
much  resemble  nature.  The  forest  trees  are  dotted  over  the 
green  lawn,  which  rises  and  falls,  through  plains  and  hills,  with 
irregular  tastefulness.  You  can  hardly  believe  that  all  has  been 
done  by  man.  Many  of  the  trees  were  of  great  size,  and  the 
bamboo  clusters  covered  large  spaces  of  land.  The  menagerie 
was  the  magnet  that  brought  us  here,  and  that,  of  course  claim- 
ed the  most  of  our  attention.  Van  Amburgh's  collection  paled 
before  the  Governor  General's,  notwithstanding  that  many  of 
the  cages  are  empty.  Most  of  the  animals  here  I  have  seen  in 
the  Jardin  des  Plants,  at  Paris,  and  the  Zoological  Gardens  in 


220  VISIT   TO    THE    GARDEN'S. 


London  ;  but  the  chief  attraction  was  to  see  the  native  animals 
on  their  own  ground.  Tigers,  bears,  leopards,  jackals,  &c.,  and 
other  Indian  animals,  were  growling  under  the  excessive  heat  of 
their  cages,  while  the  monkeys  kept  up  the  most  incessant  chat- 
tering, and  the  parrots  and  beautiful  Indian  birds  were  striving 
to  make  their  voices  heard  amid  the  noise.  There  were  two 
rhinoceroses,  of  most  ungainly  dimensions,  and  their  ugliness 
was  only  exceeded  by  their  ferocity.  I  don't  know  which  animal 
is  the  most  ungainly,  when  you  start  them  on  the  run — the 
rhinoceros  or  the  giraffe — either  are  as  awkward  as  can  be  im- 
agined. There  were  some  twenty  elephants,  for  war  and  other 
purposes,  some  of  which  were  of  gigantic  size  ;  they  were  not 
piling  timber  by  the  river  in  town  as  they  often  do,  I  am  sorry 
to  say,  for  I  should  like  to  see  such  huge  monsters  show  their 
sagacity.  Just  opposite  to  the  park  is  the  Danish  settlement, 
which  recently  has  changed  hands.  On  &  grass  plot,  under  a 
palm  tree,  we  found  our  pic  nic  spread  ;  and  as  our  appetites 
were  sharpened  by  the  excercise  and  a  long  fast,  we  did  justice 
to  the  repast,  while  huge  carrion  birds  were  sweeping  over  our 
heads  and  near  our  food  with  unpleasant  familiarity.  The  wind 
was  against  us,  returning,  and  it  was  dark  before  we  got  to  Cal- 
cutta, but  I  was  in  time  for  the  dinner  party. 

Yesterday  I  visited  the  Botanical  Gardens,  where  for  many 
years  large  sums  of  money  have  been  expended  to  make  it 
worthy  of  the  Bengal  public.  Here  I  saw  the  great  banyan 
tree,  which  I  at  once  recognized,  for  I  had  seen  it  in  my  primi- 
tive school  book,  in  miniature  when  I  went  to  a  woman's  school. 
It  would  be  worth  a  half  a  million  in  Wall-street,  and  Barnurn 
is  just  the  man  to  import  it  and  make  another  fortune.  It  is  an 
imposing  spectacle,  with  its  one  hundred  and  ten  trunks,  cov- 
ering more  than  an  acre  of  ground,  and  is  one  of  the  great  ob- 


THE    BANYAN    TBKK HINDOO    TEMl'LKS.  221 


jects  of  interest  in  Bengal.  It  is  a  noble  work  of  God,  standing 
proudly  by  itself  giving  shade  to  a  hecatomb  of  cattle  or  a  regi- 
ment of  soldiers — the  proud  monarch  of  the  Indian  forest,  who 
lives  to  grow  old,  a  type  of  man,  with  sons  and  daughters,  grand 
children  and  great-great  grand  children  growing  up  around  and 
about  the  parent  trunk  with  an  effection  and  solicitude  more 
than  human,  for  the  marriages  and  intermarriages  never  break 
up  the  household,  but  only  strengthen  the  links  that  bind  them 
together  ;  wherever  there  is  a  weak  point  in  the  extended  arm 
of  the  parent  tree,  out  shoots  a  sprout  forthwith  and  fastening  in 
the  ground  afresh,  another  support  and  new  life  is  thrown  into 
the  mammoth  trunk  ;  and  no  storm,  however  terrible,  no  con- 
vulsion save  an  earthquake,  can  shake  its  center  or  injure  a  single 
member  of  the  family  when  each  gives  strength  and  support  to 
the  other.  All  the  Indian  trees  and  flowers,  and  many  from 
abroad,  are  growing  with  all  the  luxury  of  cultivation.  I  saw 
the  Palm  a  species  of  the  sycamore — the  pecpul,  the  tamarind, 
the  amherstiauobh's  from  Burmah  in  flower,  named  for  Lord 
Amherst,  and  other  umbrageous  fruit  trees,  and  specimens  of 
fruit  innumerable.  But  there  was  nothing  more  to  my  fancy 
than  the  great  banyan.  But  Taylor  has  seen  them  larger  in 
the  valley  of  the  Nerbudda  but  he  you  know  is  poetical — I  write 
nothing  but  prose. 

The  same  day  I  went  through  several  Hindoo  temples,  seeing 
all  that  I  was  permitted  to  see,  and  that  was  enough  to  disgust 
one  with  their  unseemly  worship.  Before  I  reached  the  temple, 
I  saw  in  several  sheds  long  rows  of  kids,  connected  by  a  line 
— a  comical  sight.  The  poor  little  wretches,  so  innocent  of  the 
fate  that  awaited  them,  looked  as  meek  and  contented  as  possi- 
ble. It  was  some  religious  festival,  and  a  large  concourse  block- 
ed the  avenues  ;  but  we  were  permitted  to  push  our  way  along 


222  PIETY    AND    WORSHIPPING. 


where  we  soon  saw  where  the  kids  were  disposed  of.  About 
fifty  were  lying  with  their  heads  off,  all  sizes  and  all  colors,  a  bell 
ringing  from  the  temple  at  the  dropping  of  every  head.  One 
man  more  religious  than  those  about  him,  brought  in  a  young 
buffalo,  and  great  was  the  rejoicing  ;  the  bell  rung  several  times, 
and  the  singing,  shouting  and  gesticulations  created  the  greatest 
confusion  ;  some  of  the  priests  were  desirous  that  I  should  offer 
up  a  goat,  but  I  declined  joining  in  the  ceremony,  for  the  whole 
performance  was  most  revolting.  It  was,  however,  not  half  so 
disgusting,  nor  was  it  so  strangely  peculiar  as  the  ceremony 
which  I  saw  going  on  in  several  of  the  smaller  temples.  I  must 
read  again— for  if  I  ever  knew  it,  it  had  gone  out  of  my  memory, 
but  once  seen  it  will  not  so  easily  be  forgotten.  Veiled  females 
are  continually  passing  in  and  out ;  but  the  singularity  of  the 
worship  there  first  made  me  laugh  and  then  contemplate.  The 
temple  has  within,  a  Hindoo  god  that  represents  the  creative 
power  of  man,  and  the  ceremony  of  the  Linquam  is  supposed  to 
be  the  cure  of  barrenness  and  sterility.  There  are  certain  days 
of  the  year  that  Hindoo  wives  who  have  been  so  unfortunate  as 
never  to  bring  any  addition  to  the  household  of  their  honored 
lord,  resort  to  this  temple  of  the  land  ;  but  although  it  has  been 
the  custom  of  ages,  I  am  not  aware  whether  it  has  in  any  one 
case  brought  the  desired  effect.  There  are  different  idols  in 
different  parts  of  India,  but  I  believe  that  none  have  proved  so 
effectual  as  the  Brahmins.  I  believe  it  is  generally  known  that 
in  some  parts  of  the  Himalaya  ranges,  Polyandry  has  existed 
since  far  back  in  the  country's  history.  There  the  wife  lives  in 
common  with  her  several  husbands,  as  westward  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, where  polygamy  is  acknowledged  by  the  deluded  followers 
of  Joe  Smith  and  Brigham  Young,  the  husband  lives  in  common 
with  his  several  wives.  But  in  one  respect  they  do  not  follow 


BURNING    OF   THE    DEAR.  223 


out  the  Mormon  custom,  for  the  idea  of  hospitality  that  influ- 
ences these  poor  natives  of  the  mountain  passes  is  that  the 
stranger  should  share  the  nuptial  couch,  and  to  refuse  would  be 
the  worst  of  insults,  say  those  who  have  observed  their  manners. 
I  also  rode  down  to  the  Burning  Ghaut  and  witnessed,  till  it 
almost  made  me  sick  with  nausea,  the  disgusting  sight  of  burn- 
ing their  dead.  The  smoke  was  rising  from  the  dying  embers  of 
several  bodies,  and  in  three  instances  the  funeral  pile  was  just 
lighted:  After  having  been  brought  on  the  banks  of  the  river, 
where  they  are  left  to  die,  if  their  friends  have  the  means  of  pur- 
chasing the  wood  and  paying  for  the  ceremony,  they  are  at  once 
placed  upon  the  coals  and  covered  up  with  the  burning  timber, 
till  their  bodies  have  been  entirely  consumed.  The  picture  was 
painful,  nauseating,  most  unpleasant  to  the  senses  ;  and  you  only 
care  to  see  it  once,  and  then  a  few  moments  will  satisfy  you. 
You  can  but  feel  stupified  at  the  sight.  Some  poor  skull,  not 
wholly  destroyed,  you  may  be  treading  on,  and  pieces  of  bones, 
where  the  relatives  were  too  poor  to  pay  for  more  fuel,  you  see 
buried  in  the  ashes.  A  most  foul  stench  fills  the  air.  At  all 
hours  of  the  day  corpses  are  brought  down,  and  the  unseemly 
levity  of  the  naked  wretches  who  stir  up  the  fuel,  and  more 
especially  when  they  show  you  the  body  by  running  a  pole  into 
its  side,  would  hasten  your  departure,  did  you  not  arrest  your 
steps  to  gaze  upon  the  hungry  flock  of  ravens  and  crows  and 
carrion  kites  who  approach  the  corpses  before  the  fire  has  ceas- 
ed to  burn,  within  a  close  proximity,  to  seize  upon  the  least 
atom  saved  from  the  flame.  Hundreds  of  them  were  within  a 
few  feet,  intently  peering  into  the  ashes,  while  the  more  digni- 
fied adjutants  were  perched  upon  the  house  tops  and  on  the 
walls,  waiting  for  their  share  of  the  entertainment.  No  one 
molests  them  for  the  birds  are  sacred,  and  eat  up  the  filth 


4 

*  i  _ 

224  BRAHMA,    VI3HNA,    SHIVA. 


about  the  city.  Wheii  too  poor  to  buy  the  privilege  of  burning 
their  relatives  they  let  the  tide  wash  them  off  the  beach,  some 
of  them,  perhaps,  before  the  life  has  left  the  body,  and  they  are 
floated  off  to  sea.  I  have  often  heard  the  captains  of  ships  tell 
of  the  bodies  fouling  the  anchors,  and  the  sickening  stench  that 
arose  in  cleaning  them  when  some  half  a  dozen  had  lodged 
there  ;  and  whenever  I  drank  the  water  of  the  Hoogly,  or  par: 
took  curry,  or  fish  at  breakfast,  I  could  but  be  reminded  of  the 
human  shrimp  traps  and  "fish  bait"  of  which  I  had  so  many 
times  heard.  The  engineer  on  board  the  Fiery  Cross,  on  allud- 
ing to  the  subject,  was  suddenly  taken  ill,  for  his  imagination 
was  stronger  than  his  stomach.  I  have  seeu  little,  but  all  J  wish 
to  see,  of  Indian  worship.  It  is  an  intricate  ceremony.  Brahma 
is  the  paternal  ancestor,  the  head  deity  ;  and  he  has  three  sous, 
who  officiate  in  their  respective  spheres.  Brahma  creates, 
Vishna  preserves,  and  Shiva  destroys,  each  acting  for  himself, 
and  each  worshipped  for  his  particular  power.  Each  represents 
one  grand  head,  and  from  these  three  are  born  the  millions  of 
gods  that  are  worshipped  through  the  empire — animal  and 
vegetable,  animate  and  inanimate,  alive  and  dead,  ia  the 
water  and  on  the  land.  In  India  every  thing  that  is  born, 
everything  that  lives,  everything  that  dies,  represents  some  em- 
blem of  their  religion  ;  and  when  and  wherever  that  religion 
has  been  interfered  with  it  has  given  rise  to  much  bitter  feeling 
and  involved  no  little  danger.  Sir  William  Bentinck  abolished 
suttee,  or  the  self-immolation  of  widows  on  the  funeral  pile  of 
their  husbands,  and  his  bronze  monument  stands  out  in  bold  re- 
lief, to  tell  you  of  the  act.  But  it  would  be  difficult  to  ascertain 
if  in  some  instances  this  practice  is  not  still  followed.  Although 
they  consider,  I  believe,  a  cow  more  sacred  than  a  woman,  yet 
I  saw  a  small  heifer  give  up  her  helpless  life  to  the  sacrifice. 


EUROPEAN  TRADESMEN  IN  CALCUTTA.          225 

No  Governor  General  has  abolished  the  torturing  customs  where 
devotees  go  through  the  most  painful  operations,  to  show  their 
love  of  their  religion,  and  how  devout  is  their  worship  ;  with 
irons  through  the  body,  they  swing  round  and  round,  sit  down 
on  steel  instruments,  torture  their  limbs  into  the  most  excruti- 
atingly  painful  positions,  and  go  through  all  the  horrors  of  the 
inquisition. 

Next  month,  in  April,  some  of  those  days  when  the  torture 
is  the  worship,  will  give  the  stranger  the  opportunity  of  witness- 
ing that  which  I  do  not  care  to  behold,  for  already  I  have  seen 
enough  to  disgust  me  with  the  common  people,  their  habits, 
their  customs,  their  dress,  their  treachery,  their  duplicity  and 
their  religion.  One  able  bodied  Chinaman,  in  appearance  to  say 
the  least,  is  worth  half  a  dozen  natives  of  Bengal ;  for  as  a  race, 
the  former  are  far  ahead  of  the  latter. 

Notwithstanding  the  troops  of  native  shopkeepers  and  trades- 
men always  hovering  about  you,  there  are  plenty  of  Europeans 
ready  to  take  your  money.  English  tailors,  English  barbers, 
English  hatters  and  English  jewelers,  English  hotels  and  English 
druggists,  all  exercise  their  ingenuity  in  properly  representing 
their  respective  callings.  The  exchange  mart,  as  they  term  it, 
contains  a  little  of  everything — a  perfect  salmagundi. 

You  can  purchase  anything  you  please,  from  an  India  rubber 
coat  to  a  penny  whistle — from  a  lady's  work  box  to  a  gentle- 
man's dressing  case  ;  and  the  prices  are  moderate.  I  bought 
several  beautiful  silver  ornaments  made  by  the  artisans  of  Cut- 
tack — bracelets,  bouquet  holders,  breast  pins  and  sundry  nick- 
nacks,  many  of  which  were  of  exquisite  workmanship.  Just  at 
the  present  time  the  exchange  is  being  cleared  preparatory  to 
the  opium  sale,  which  comes  off  the  llth  of  every  month,  a 
sight  I  am  sorry  I  shall  not  witness,  for  it  is  one  of  the  noted 


226  NATIVE    GAMBLING OCHTERLONY    MONUMENT. 


exhibitions  of  Calcutta.  The  Opium  from  Benares  and  Patna 
is  sold  here  at  public  auction,  by  the  Honorable  Company, 
through  a  salaried  auctioneer,  twelve  times  during  the  year,  to 
the  highest  bidder.  Catalogues  are  early  circulated,  and  the 
purchasers  from  the  country  are  early  in  town.  As  a  chest  of 
Patna  passes  like  a  bank  note,  no  sampling  or  examination 
takes  place.  Looking  from  an  elevation  in  the  room  you  see  a 
most  extraordinary  spectacle — all  nations — all  European  races 
are  represented.  In  the  Stock  Exchange  and  the  Bourse  you 
may  see  the  latter,  but  at  the  opium  sales  room  only  can  you 
see  the  grand  mixture  of  races. 

Gambling  is  a  natural  vice  among  the  Indians,  and  they  en- 
joy beyond  anything  else  the  peculiar  excitement  of  the  opium 
mart ;  and  it  is  the  motely  appearance  of  the  bidders,  combined 
with  the  confusion  of  tongues,  and  the  strong  odors  that  arise 
from  the  perspiring  crowd  that  marks  the  place.  Jews  and 
Gentiles  are  wild  in  their  manner  ;  and  Greeks,  Armenians, 
Persians,  mingled  in  with  native  Indians  of  many  dialects  ;  and 
Englishmen,  and  all  the  representatives  of  the  continent  of  Eu- 
rope, of  Asia  and  of  Africa,  are  wrought  up  to  the  greatest  pos- 
sible excitement  by  the  sharp  bidding  and  the  quick  auctioneer, 
who  seems  to  be  ubiquitous.  The  hells  of  London  and  of  Paris 
are  not  thronged  with  more  reckless  men,  for  the  amounts  are 
heavy,  and  one  bid  will  make  or  lose  a  fortune.  Mucli  of  the 
gambling  takes  place  in  the  bazaar  before  the  sale.  But  I  can- 
not wait  till  Monday,  and  must  content  myself  with  hearsay. 

In  the  afternoon  I  made  myself  a  martyr  to  curiosity,  and 
ascended  to  the  top  of  the  Ochterlony  Monument,  up  some  two 
hundred  stone  steps.  I  must  say  I  much  prefer  the  simple  con- 
trivance at  Bunker  Hill,  for  this  treadmill,  always  mounting 
upwards  motion,  completely  paralyses  one's  legs — mine  fairly 


*  +      .!*.-'   ** 

LOOK    AT   THE    CITY    FROM   THE    MONUMENT.  227 


ached.  Once  on  the  summit,  you  are  repaid  for  the  task  ;  for 
here  you  have  the  entire  city  of  Calcutta — the  old  and  the  new 
— and  the  suburbs,  for  miles  and  miles,  spread  out  before  you. 
With  a  good  glass  you  may  range  over  a  large  space  of  terri- 
tory ;  all  the  public  buildings  stand  boldly  out,  and  the  flat 
roofed  houses  of  the  Europeans  offer  little  to  grow  poetical 
upon.  I  would  not  form  an  opinion  of  Calcutta  from  simply 
riding  through  its  streets  ;  but  after  you  have  viewed  it  from 
an  elevated  position,  you  can  but  form  the  conclusion  that  it  is 
very  much  overrated.  There  are  many  beautiful  residences,  to 
be  sure  ;  but  as  a  whole  Calcutta  has  no  more  right  to  possess 
the  high  sounding  name  of  "  City  of  Palaces"  than  Singapore 
has  to  be  called  the  "  City  of  Churches,"  or  Melbourue  the 
"  City  of  Warehouses."  Shanghae  possesses  equally  extensive 
mansions,  and  Batavia  many  that  are  superior.  After  you  have 
enjoyed  the  look  of  nature  and  of  art,  as  your  steamer  steams 
to  the  mooring  at  Garden  Reach — after  you  have  been  to  Bar- 
rackpore,  and  seen  some  of  the  country  seats  at  Ballygunge — 
after  you  have  visited  the  most  attractive  places  in  the  suburbs, 
you  should  ride  round  the  circular  road,  where  the  ancient  wall 
and  moat  were  constructed  to  bar  out  the  robber  horsemen  of 
the  Mahratta  ;  you  should  spend  a  few  hours  in  wandering 
through  the  native  town  ;  you  should  look  carefully  at  the 
dirty,  stained,  mildewed  appearance  of  the  city  buildings,  where 
rain  and  climate  have  made  the  painting  profession  lucrative  ; 
you  should  notice  some  of  the  less  active  of  the  thoroughfares, 
where  dirt  and  filth  give  food  to  flocks  of  carrion  kites  and 
regiments  of  adjutants ;  you  should  let  the  hot  red  sand  look 
of  ground  and  building  fully  stamp  its  influence  on  your  fancy 
— you  should  see  all  these,  and  then  tell  me  if  the  simple  fact 
of  residences  being  isolated  and  walled  in,  is  sufficient  to  give 


228  WONDERFUL   COMMERCE    OF    CALCUTTA. 


Calcutta  the  name  of  the  Palace  City.  More  properly  it  might 
be  called  a  city  of  "  mud  and  plaster,"  where  the  squareness  of 
the  architecture  and  the  unclean,  untidy  look  of  the  paint  or 
whitewash  is  the  most  noticeable.  One  thing,  however,  none 
can  dispute,  and  that  is  the  greatness  of  its  commerce,  increas- 
ing with  every  moon.  The  march  of  empire  has  changed  the 
village  of  Indian  huts  into  a  city.  The  little  band  of  traders 
have  grown  to  a  powerful  company.  In  Surajah  Dowlah's  day 
the  site  of  the  miscalled  Palatial  City  was  the  natural  resort  of 
water  fowl,  and  aligators,  and  carrion  birds ;  huge  reptiles 
crawled  over  the  morass  and  the  jungle,  and  beasts  of  prey 
were  only  surpassed  in  fierceness  by  the  robber  hordes  ;  now 
the  banks  of  the  river  are  covered  with  merchandise,  which  the 
primitive  teams  of  the  land,  unchanged  for  centuries,  bring 
down  from  the  interior,  where  the  finest  ships  in  the  world  open 
their  hatches  to  receive  the  produce  of  a  land  that  is  capable 
of  producing  as  much  of  its  renowned  staples  as  the  rest  of  the 
world  is  capable  of  consuming.  And  yet  with  all  this  wonder- 
ful commerce,  who  grows  rich  in  the  Indian  trade  ?  How 
many  merchants  annually  retire  with  lacs  of  rupees  ?  As 
many  as  make  their  fortunes  in  the  respective  gold  fields  of  the 
great  Anglo  Saxon  empires,  after  they  have  past  through  a 
panic — no  more  ;  for  competition  crowds  the  new  comer,  and 
every  ten  years  the  old  merchants  tremble  under  an  established 
custom,  if  not  a  natural  law. 

The  numbers  of  Parsees  that  brush  past  you  and  repeat  their 
prayers  in  the  morning,  in  the  Canton  gardens,  plainly  shows 
who  has  -the  best  of  the  opium  trade,  and  the  extensive  imports 
and  exports  of  the  Rhalleys  and  the  Schilizzers  of  Calcutta 
would  indicate  that  the  Greek  merchants  possess  capital,  en- 
terprise, and  a  large  share  of  the  commerce  of  Bengal. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

CALCTTTA,  Narch,  8,  1856. 

Native  Merchants  of  Calcutta — How  They  do  Business — The  Baboos  at 
Home — Cashmere  Goats — More  Amusement — Theatricals — The  Amer- 
ican Ice  House. 

THE  native  merchants  are  men  of  intellect,  well  up  in  all  the 
moves  on  the  mercantile  chess  board.  You  are  surprised  to 
find  them  so  familiar  with  commerce  and  commercial  usages. 
Naturally  sharp  and  quick  to  learn,  by  being-  brought  in  con- 
tact with  business  men  from  every  coast,  after  graduating  from 
the  English  school,  they  became  familiar  with  all  the  tricks  of 
trade.  If  they  wish  to  purchase,  they  appear  before  you  as  a 
seller  ;  if  they  have  indigo  to  dispose  of,  they  will  inquire  for 
seeds,  and  if  freight  is  to  be  engaged,  they  will  offer  you  a  ship. 
Intuitively  they  understand  all  the  clap  trap  of  the  Stock  Ex- 
change ;  with  astonishing  cleverness  they  put  the  market  up 
and  down  with  as  much  ease  as  the  most  experienced  bulls  and 
bears  of  the  West,  and  before  or  after  the  arrival  of  a  mail, 
you  meet  them  where  you  least  expect  it — always  a  little  in  ad- 
vance. No  Europeans  were  equal  to  cope  with  them  in 
managing  prices,  in  regulating  exchanges,  or  in  dodging  round 
sharp  corners,  till  the  Greeks  dropped  down  among  them  ;  but 
since  so  many  of  them  have  appeared  in  Calcutta  the  natives 
have  had  to  keep  their  eyes  wide  open.  In  many  of  the  Euro- 
pean houses  the  Banyans  work  the  machinery,  furnishing  Sircars, 


ff. 

&" 

230  HOW    THEY    DO    BUSINESS    IN    CALCUTTA. 


or  native  clerks,  managing  the  details  of  office,  and  of  govern- 
ment, and  in  the  American  trade,  furnishing  capital,  or  rather, 
buying  cargoes,  cashing  acceptances,  and  keeping  the  wheels 
on  the  turn  till  the  credit  can  be  realized  after  the  cargo  is 
on  board.  These  men  accumulate  fortunes,  while  their  em- 
ployers work  on  without  meeting  with  the  same  success.  Baboo 
Ashootas  Day,  and  Baboo  Rajendur  and  Kaledos  Dutt  are  the 
great  American  Banyans,  aiid  manage  the  business  of  most  of 
the  American  houses.  The  former,  almost  since  the  commence- 
ment of  the  century,  has  done  an  extensive  business  direct  with 
the  Boston  merchants,  and  was  among  the  first  I  called  upon, 
when  I  received  the  intelligence  of  his  death  ;  but  the  business 
still  goes  on  as  before,  by  his  nephew  and  successors,  while  the  ex- 
tensive property  of  the  late  Baboo,  has  brought  out  rival  claim- 
ants, and  report  says  that  the  court  clerks  are  fattening  on  ex- 
pectation. Ashootas  Day  and  Baboo  Ram  Gopol  Ghose,  I 
believe,  are  the  only  two  native  merchants  who  receive  to  any 
extent  direct  orders  from  abroad  ;  the  former  for  American, 
the  latter  on  English  account.  The  business  of  Calcutta  seems 
to  be  done  through  the  medium  of  chits  and  brokers — the  mer- 
chants seldom  meeting,  for  you  never  find  any  one  at  the  ex- 
change. This  reserve  creates  jealousy,  and  Calcutta  is  ahead 
of  China  in  that  respect,  for  in  China  you  meet  over  the  dinner 
table,  in  the  gardens,  or  at  the  reading  rooms.  Even  the 
Banyans  and  native  merchants  employ  brokers,  and  seldom  go 
to  the  bazaars  ;  but  the  Greeks  are  always  on  the  alert.  Pro- 
duce passes  through  many  hands  before  it  reaches  the  ship,  and 
each  party  levies  and  collects  his  toll.  The  custom  that  pre- 
vailed in  England  in  Cromwell's  time,  of  return  commissions, 
drawbacks,  &c.,  is  understood  in  India  ;  and  the  Banyan,  the 
broker,  the  mahajun,  all  depend  upon  their  durstooree  in  all 


THE    BABOOS    AT   HOME.  231 


heavy  transactions,  as  your  bearer,  or  khidmuz-gar,  expects  his 
return  commission  when  you  send  him  for  a  candle,  or  bunch 
of  matches. 

The  Bengal  Banyan  is  not  the  China  comprador,  and  yet 
they  are  not  so  much  unlike  ;  each  manages  the  merchandise, 
and  each  handles  the  treasure,  and  each  appears  to  be  commer- 
cially on  intimate  relations  with  the  foreign  merchants.  I  visit- 
ed the  residence  of  the  Dutt  family,  where  all  the  opulence 
and  luxuries  that  wealth  commands  is  scattered  about  the 
rooms.  Paintings  and  engravings,  mosaic  from  Rome  and 
porcelain  from  Sevres,  English  and  French  furniture,  and  every- 
thing Indian  and  European  that  they  can  get  hold  of,  is  pur- 
chased to  adorn  their  residences.  The  large  rooms  of  valuable 
merchandise  resembled  more  an  ill-assorted  pawnbroker's  shop 
in  London  than  anything  else  I  could  think  of.  I  found  the 
Baboo  almost -naked,  in  his  bedroom,  on  the  floor,  a  punkah 
over  him,  and  in  his  hand  an  English  history  of  the  Russian 
war.  The  room  was  beautifully  furnished,  but  the  pictures  that 
adorned  the  walls  showed  the  licentious  taste  of  the  Bengalee. 
He  was  most  familiar  with  the  geography,  the  commerce,  the 
politics  of  other  nations — wanted  to  know  the  effect  of  the  late 
wonderful  production  of  gold,  and  how  it  would  operate  on  the 
silver  coinage — asked  if  the  losses  still  continued  as  heavy  in 
the  Australian  trade  as  at  first,  and  if  our  cotton  crop  in  the 
States  would  exceed  three  millions  of  bales,  and  if  in  case  of 
peace  clipper  ships  would  depreciate.  His  religion,  he  said, 
would  not  allow  him  to  go  abroad,  but  nothing  would  be  more 
pleasant  to  him  than  to  visit  Mount  Vernon.  Ashootas  Day 
had  a  beautiful  place,  and  before  his  death  gave  a  most  expen- 
sive nautch,  combining  the  immoralities  of  the  European  with 
the  luxuriant  and  voluptuous  habits  of  the  natives.  He  denied 


232          CASHMERE  GOATS MORE  AMUSEMENT. 


himself  nothing  that  money  would  give  him.  The  careless  way 
in  speaking  of  him — that  he  had  been  burnt  up  makes  one  still 
more  repugnant  to  their  idol  worship.  I  was  also  entertained 
by  Baboo  Rajendur  Mullick,  whose  princely  estates  and  great 
wealth  are  noticeable  over  many  others.  Dutt's  Place  is  far  less 
extensive,  for  Baboo  Mullick  lives  the  gentlemen,  and  devotes 
his  time  to  ornamenting  his  house,  by  purchasing  everything 
that  comes  from  other  parts.  The  more  expensive  the  article 
the  better  is  he  pleased.  Animals  and  birds  filled  the  garden, 
and  his  aviary  contained  the  feathered  tribes  of  every  land, 
from  the  ostrich  to  the  emu — the  mandarin  duck  of  China  to 
the  bird  of  paradise.  The  late  Earl  of  Derby  contributed 
something  to  the  collection. 

I  saw  several  goats  from  Cashmere,  the  kind  from  whose 
wool  the  celebrated  shawls  are  made.  The  goats  thrive  poorly 
out  of  the  mountains,  and  there  were  only  five  left  out  of  some 
two  hundred  that  the  Baboo  owned.  The  Baboo  is  most  gen- 
tlemanly in  his  manners,  and  well  informed  in  ancient  and  mo- 
dern history,  speaking  English  with  remarkable  fluency.  He 
has  several  lacs  invested  in  the  company's  paper.  A  few  weeks 
since  he  gave  a  most  magnificent  nautch.  The  large  area  in 
the  centre  was  covered,  and  lights  and  lanterns  shone  over  the 
expensive  fountain  and  the  ornamented  stage.  These  nautches 
are  peculiar  to  Icdia,  and,  when  given  by  a  king,  a  prince,  or  a 
millionaire,  distinguished  foreigners  are  often  invited.  I  had 
the  chance  of  being  present  at  one  on  a  small  scale,  got  up  for 
the  amusement  of  a  yonng  Bostonian  from  Canton  and  myself, 
by  some  of  our  American  friends.  The  music  at  times  is  harsh, 
and  then  dies  off  with  soothing  harmony.  The  musicians  were 
all  seated,  and  the  guests,  native  and  foreign,  were  provided 
with  lounges,  sofa  chairs,  &c.  The  entertainment  was  given  at  a 


DANCING    GIRLS THEATRICALS.  233 


native's  house,  a  few  miles  out  of  town,  and  the  dancing  girls 
were  engaged  a  day  or  two  before.  Gesticulation,  action  and 
the  elastic  movements  of  the  body  mark  the  peculiarity  of  the 
dance — commencing  with  a  slow,  graceful  motion,  scarcely 
moving  their  feet,  but  working  their  hands  and  arms,  then 
becoming  more  animated,  with  a  livelier  chant,  their  whole 
form  keeping  time  to  the  tune,  till  they  appear  much  excited, 
and  their  movements  at  first  chaste,  become  voluptuous,  and 
the  music  inspirits  to  still  more  powerful  excitement,  till  the 
dance  is  terminated  with  louder  strains  and  more  lascivious 
motions.  Other  dancers  then  take  their  place,  but  the  dance 
is  unchanged.  Two  of  the  girls  only  appeared  at  the  same 
time.  All  of  them  were  covered  with  jewels.  I  counted  as 
many  as  fifteen  gold  and  silver  bracelets  on  one  arm,  and  neck- 
laces and  chains— bells  on  their  ancles  and  rings  on  their  fingers, 
jewelry  in  their  ears,  and  hanging  in  rings  from  their  noses, 
gave  them  a  most  original  appearance,  and  simply  shows  how 
fond  these  natives  are  of  ornament.  All  they  can  make — all 
they  can  get  and  save  over  and  above  their  maintenance,  goes 
for  ornaments  ;  and  many  of  those  who  seem  the  poorest  have 
valuable  jewelry  on  their  persons.  Coolies,  even,  who  can  save 
a  few  rupees  invest  in  buying  jeweled  ornaments  for  their  chil- 
dren ;  and  hence  robbery  and  murder  occur  where  the  induce- 
ment is  so  conspicuously  advertised. 

Outside  of  then*  own  residences  and  off  the  esplanade,  for- 
eigners have  little  to  amuse  themselves  with,  for  theatricals  and 
concerts,  lectures  and  exhibitions  do  not  thrive  on  Indian  soil. 
Kate  Hayes,  however,  for  awhile  dispersed  the  general  apathy, 
but  a  few  nights  of  the  Italian  music  at  the  prices  were  amply 
sufficient.  There  are  many  •amateur  singers  hi  the  city,  and 
their  occasional  reunions  are  said  to  be  attractive.  A  star  actor 


234  AN    AMEBICAN    ICE    HOUSE. 


or  prima  donna  need  never  expect  to  realize  a  rapid  fortune  by 
visiting  Calcutta  ;  for  the  population  is  not  equal  to  a  small 
town  in  a  Western  State.  Seven  thousand,  they  tell  me,  is 
about  the  mark.  Madame  Pleiffer,  who  does  the  chapter  and 
verse  diction,  said  two  ;  but  she  may  be  as  much  mistaken  as 
in  describing  the  site  of  the  Black  Hole. 

The  American  ice  house  was  presented  to  the  proprietor  by 
the  government,  and  the  monopoly  of  the  Calcutta  market  must 
be  lucrative.  For  this  luxury  the  civil  servants  and  citizens  of 
the  Presidency  are  indebted  to  the  successful  enterprize  of  a 
Boston  merchant.  No  competition  could  live  a  month,  for  there 
is  not  enough  for  two.  Ice  is  the  greatest  of  all  luxuries  in 
the  capital  of  Bengal.  The  stranger  enjoys  it  as  much  as  the 
resident. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

'VOYAGE  TO  EGYPT  FROM  INDIA. 

ON  BOARD  THE  PENINSULAR  AND  ORIENTAL     ) 
STEAMSHIP  NUBIA,  from  Calcutta  to  Suez,  ) 

March  9,  1856. 

Run  from  Calcutta  to  Suez — A  Retrospect  of  Indian  History— The  First 
Overland  Journey — The  Company  and  its  Commanders — The  Black 
Hole  of  Calcutta. 

I  FEAR  that  I  shall  find  little  time  for  HERALD  correspondence 
in  the  desert,  at  Jerusalem,  the  Crimea,  or  in  Europe,  but  at 
any  rate,  passing  events  shall  be  recorded.  Now  I  have  some 
two  or  three  weeks  on  my  hands,  and  I  shall  find  amusement  in 
taking  a  retrospective  view  of  India,  although  the  motion  of  a 
sea  steamer  may  prevent  me  from  turning  all  my  periods  well. 
Will  it  too  severely  tax  your  good  nature  if  I  run  back  to 
Elizabeth's  time,  when  merchants  planted  the  seed  of  empire, 
and  with  steeple  chasing  speed  run  over  the  course  that  marks 
the  history  of  a  nation  which  for  more  than  two  centuries,  has 
been  the  theatre  of  some  of  the  most  thrilling  scenes  that  ever 
gave  birth  to  romance  or  to  misery.  If  permitted,  I  promise  to 
make  the  chapter  short.  A  year  of  constant  reading  would 
hardly  finish  the  works  on  India,  for  the  volumes  would  crowd 
a  library— memoirs,  journals,  sketches  of  the  multitude  of  civil 
servants  of  the  Honorable  Company — histories  and  reports  of 
Governor  Generals  from  Lord  Clive  to  Lord  Canning — annals, 


236  HINDOO    MAIDEN'S. 


records  and  accounts  of  the  Board  of  Directors — biographies, 
historical  reminiscences,  despatches,  and  pretty  volumes  of  clever 
military  officers  who,  during  years  of  service,  had  little  to  do 
but  write,  draw  bills,  smoke,  play  cards  and  shoot  tigers  from 
off  an  Elephant's  back  ;  and  others,  who  were  in  action,  fought, 
gave  their  own  account  of  the  battle,  and  won  medals  and  eulo- 
gies for  their  bravery. 

The  printing  press  has  been  always  active  in  introducing  dis- 
tinguished civil  and  military  officers  to  the  literary  public,  and 
books  on  "  our  Eastern  Empire  "  are  to  be  found  everywhere  but 
where  you  most  want  them.  Some  of  the  writers  have  become 
rich,  others  poor,  and  some  won  a  name  ;  others  sunk  into  ob- 
scurity with  the  first  edition  ;  but  most  of  them  lost  their  hair, 
their  lungs,  and,  in  one  or  two  solitary  instances,  their  conscience, 
in  the  honorable  service  of  the  Honorable  Company.  Tourists, 
too,  poetical  and  prosaic — some  falling  into  hysterical  composi- 
tion when  standing  on  the  summits  of  high  mountains,  or  resting 
in  their  palaquins  on  the  banks  of  grand  rivers,  watching  the 
innocent  gambols  of  Hindoo  maidens,  whose  ablutions  attracted 
them,  while  other  writers  tell  of  brave  hunts,  where  they  have 
luxuriated  in  the  exciting  embraces  of  a  wounded  female  tiger  ; 
and  missionaries  who  have  grown  inspired  in  describing  the  hor- 
rors of  the  opium  trade — the  thrilling  scenes  of  the  jungle,  the 
revolting  customs  of  heathen  worship,  and  the  prayers  which 
they  have  made  in  the  evangelization  of  the  native  races,  prayers 
somewhat  doubted  by  many  of  the  company's  servants,  who, 
living  in  the  same  localities,  have  seen  few  instances  of  a  fruit 
the  seed  of  which  was  planted  long  ago,  but  somehow  or  other 
refuses  to  ripen  under  an  Indian  sun,  missionaries  whose  life  of 
exile  commands  admiration,  and  far  be  it  from  me  to  speak 
lightly  of  their  labors,  for  their  motives  are  the  best,  although 


RETROSPECT    OF    INDIAN    HISTORY.  237 


success  seldom  crowns  their  life  of  toil  and  absence.  Others 
have  written,  and  many  who  never  saw  the  Indian  shore  have 
written,  and  many  of  their  works  show  astonishing  research  and 
careful  compilation.  Moore's  knowledge  of  the  Orient  is  sprink- 
led along  the  great  three  thousand  guinea  poem  like  pearls  in 
a  diamond  necklace,  and  yet  he  never  saw  the  country.  Lalla 
Rookh  is  full  of  Eastern  painting.  Burke  and  Fox  and  Sheri- 
dan enchanted  Parliament  with  their  startling  pictures  of  Indian 
life  when  the  American  nation  was  in  its  cradle,  and  yet  they 
were  not  in  India. 

From  such  a  mass  of  composition  one  is  fairly  disheartened  in 
reading  upon  such  a  country.  No  digest  like  Goldsmith's  His- 
tory of  England  has  yet  been  thrown  together.  Yes — I  am 
wrong — MacFarlane,  who  wrote  on  Japan,  has  published  a 
valuable  summary,  which  gives  one  taste  for  more.  Yet  his 
travels  never  extended  to  the  East.  Bishop  Heber's  "  Indian 
Journal,"  "  Wellington's  Despatches,"  P.  Anber's  "  Rise  and 
Progress  of  British  Power  in  India,"  James'  "  Military  Trans- 
actions of  the  British  Nation  in  Hindostan" — a  work  of  more 
than  ordinary  merit ;  Mill's  "  History  of  British  India,"  which 
I  think,  passed  under  Macaulay's  favorable  criticism  in  the  Ed- 
inburgh Review;  Scott's  "History  of  Bengal,"  Gleig's  "Warren 
Hastings,"  are  among  some  of  the  more  prominent  writings  ; 
bat  only  in  proportion  as  the  letter  A  is  to  the  alphabet.  In 
volume  four — the  last  of  the  brilliant  series  that  has  been  issued 
from  the  press  from  the  pen  of  England's  great  historian — yon 
will  find  an  occasional  page  of  England's  progress  in  the  East, 
and  as  you  read  the  eloquent  description  of  the  birth  and  infan- 
cy of  the  empire  you  long  for  another  chapter,  and  wait  with 
impatient  anticipation  to  see  something  of  its  youth  and  man- 
hood. He  tells  you  that  the  Honorable  Company  was  incorpo- 


238  THE   FIRST   OVERLAND  JOURNEY. 


. 

rated  by  England's  great  Queen  on  the  last  day  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  just  when  the  Mogul  monarchy  was  at  the  acme  of  its 
fame — when  Akbar,  the  illustrious  decendaut  of  the  House  of 
Tamerlane,  had  inherited  lands  and  wealth  surpassing  anything 
in  Western  grandeur.  But  Macaulay  goes  no  further  back.  Yet 
India  had  a  glorious  past.  Alexander  who  conquered  his  Bu- 
cephalus before  he  wept  that  there  were  no  more  worlds  to  con- 
quer, first  told  Europe  of  the  splendor  of  India,  for  his  armies 
were  the  first  to  enter  the  Punjaub.  Political  changes  have 
always  been  taking  place  in  the  East.  In  the  eleventh  century 
Constantinople  held  the  trade  and  worked  the  oracle  of  finance  ; 
then  Italians  crowded  out  the  Turks,  and  Marco  Polo  was  as 
active  as  he  had  been  in  China  ;  and  years  after  Columbus  found 
a  continent — a  new  track  to  India — changed  the  commerce  of 
the  Orient,  and  Yasco  De  Gama  claimed  the  discovery  of  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  race  course,  and  the  Portuguese  displaced 
the  Italians  and  the  Arabs  in  the  trade  ;  and  in  jealousy  of 
Portugal's  progress,  the  Dutch,  the  French  and  the  English  en- 
tered the  field,  and  expeditions  were  despatched  to  India  via  the 
Good  Hope  track,  but  Thomas  Cavendish  and  Capt.  Raymond 
only  opened  the  door  to  the  joint  stock  company,  who  subscribed 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  placed  the  direction 
under  a  committee  of  fifteen. 

John  Mildenhall  was  the  first  to  make  the  overland  journey 
to  the  new  commercial  arena.  A  year  later,  a  charter  for  fif- 
teen years  received  the  royal  assent,  and  on  the  2d  of  May, 
1601,  the  little  trading  fleet  sailed  from  Torbay  under  the  com- 
mand of  James  Lancaster,  who  first  dropped  anchor  at  Sumatra, 
and  left  an  agent  at  Bantam,  in  Java.  In  this  modest  manner 
the  acorn  was  planted,  and  taking  root  on  a  fertile  soil,  from  the 
young  sapling  has  grown  to  the  mighty  oak,  whose  wide  spread- 


*s$ 

•   .  . 

THE   COMPANY   AND    ITS    COMMANDERS.  239 

?<.  •• ... 

ing  branches,  extend  some  1,900  miles  from  Caihmir  to  Cape 
Comorin,  from  the  Indus'  mouth  to  the  mountain  ranges,  east- 
ward of  the  Baramputa,  some  1,500  miles — covering  an  area  of 
some  1,300,000  square  miles — populated  by  one  hundred  and 
forty-one  millions  of  Indians  of  mixed  blood  and  mixed  religion. 
From  the  Straits  we  find  the  traders  at  Surat,  iu  1612,  protect- 
ed by  the  Protestant  James.  A  half  of  a  century  later,  in 
1668,  Bombay  was  ceded  to  the  company  by  the  dissipated 
Charles  the  Second.  In  1707  Calcutta  became  a  Presidency, 
but  it  was  in  1698  that  the  rival  companies  buried  the  hatchet, 
joining  capital  and  interest  under  the  name  of  the  United  East 
India  Company.  The  first  foothold  with  a  native  king  was 
brought  about  through  the  skill  of  the  merchantmen's  doctor, 
in  saving  the  life  of  a  beautiful  native  princess.  A  century  had 
died  away  since  the  formation  of  the  company,  and  kingly  for- 
tunes were  made  so  quickly  as  to  astonish  all  not  interested, 
and  create  bitter  jealousy  in  those  merchants  who  did  not  share 
the  monopoly. 

Sir  Josiah  Child  fought  boldly  for  the  company's  rights,  which 
Cromwell  had  restored  after  the  civil  war  had  broken  out,  and 
bought  members  of  Parliament  and  members  of  the  Cabinet 
with  his  Indian  gold.  Private  merchants  were  not  equal  to 
combat  an  already  powerful  corporation,  whose  maxim  then 
was,  that  money  would  overcome  virtue,  and  the  working  of  the 
maxim  was  seen  in  the  continued  renewals  of  the  charter.  The 
wonderful  progress  of  the  colony  began  to  alarm  the  Indian 
kings,  and  the  Dutch  and  French  adventurers  were  always 
stimulating  them  on  against  the  English.  The  fierce  feuds 
between  the  Hindoos  and  the  Mussulmen  were  never  more  active. 
Since  Alfred's  time  terrible  internal  wars  had  convulsed  the 
land,  and  Mahomedan  conquerors.  Hindoo  rajahs,  fierce  Aflghans 


240  ROBERT    CLIVE NATIVE    RAJAHS. 


and  Rahpootes  were  marauding  over  the  empire,  till  Tamerlane, 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  took  the  reins.  Baber  succeeded  the 
great  Emperor,  and  later  Akbar  inherited  all  ;  but  before  the 
English  were  in  Surat  he  was  in  the  tomb  of  his  fathers.  The 
early  hatred  of  rival  princes  was  handed  down  from,  generation 
to  generation,  and  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century 
burned  with  fiercer  energy,  for  Dupleix,  the  Frenchman,  began 
to  discover  that  the  ruins  of  the  Mongol  monarchy  might  give 
birth  to  European  empire.  At  one  time  his  power  saw  no  bar- 
rier, and  his  dreams  of  conquest  made  him  covetous  and  quar- 
rel with  Labourdonnais.  This  was  the  time  that  the  Napoleon 
of  India  was  introduced,  for  the  irritable  clerk,  who,  while  a 
writer,  had  twice  attempted  to  end  his  life  when  smarting  under 
Borne  reproof  for  his  stupidity  without  success,  gave  up  the 
courtier's  duty  for  the  soldier,  and  Robert  Clive,  who  gave  no 
promise  of  greatness  in  his  youth,  became  the  founder  of  the 
British  empire  in  India.  It  has  been  said  that  Indian  history 
has  had  no  Cortez  and  no  Pizarro  ;  but  more  likely  it  is  be- 
cause there  has  been  no  Prescott  to  record  their  glory  and  their 
shame.  When  further  advanced  in  his  "  History  of  England," 
we  may  expect  it  in  Macauley. 

Clive,  when  he  commenced  his  brilliant  career  as  a  comman- 
der, was  about  the  age  of  Napoleon  when  chief  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  Italy,  but  he  did  not  possess  the  same  military  ex- 
perience, although  his  victories  surprised  his  enemies  into  admi- 
ration. He  was  emphatically  the  man  of  the  time.  Native 
Rajahs,  tired  of  the  Englishman's  arrogance,  and  fearing  the 
exercise  of  his  power,  again  flew  to  horse.  The  Nabob  of 
Arcot — was  the  first  to  fight.  This  was  the  Rajah  to  whom 
Burke,  in  the  British  Parliament,  gave  an  endless  fame.  Clive 
was  at  that  memorable  siege  which  lasted  fifty  days — the  Arcot 


BLACK    HOLE    OF    CALCUTTA.  241 


fort.  Halliburton  had  just  begun  to  form  and  drill  the  sepoys 
into  soldiers,  and  their  constancy  and  skill  was  flattering  to  the 
officer.  From  that  little  band  of  native  troops  sprung  the  en- 
tire Indian  army,  now  numbering  some  275,000  native  soldiers. 
Full  of  honors  and  wealth,  Olive,  the  humble  writer,  went  to 
England,  where  slander  and  envy  awaited  him,  and  being  de- 
feated in  getting  into  Parliament,  in  1755,  sailed  under  the 
King's  command,  again  for  India,  the  Honorable  Company  ap- 
pointing him  to  the  Governorship  of  Fort  St.  David.  But  the 
very  day  he  stepped  into  the  gubernatorial  chair,  at  Madras, 
the  Bengal  Nabob  took  Calcutta.  Then  came  that  chapter  of 
unheard  of  cruelty,  familiar  to  every  child  who  has  learned  to 
read  his  story  books.  The  tragedy  of  the  Black  Hole  oc- 
curred just  a  hundred  years  ago. 

The  dungeon  was  but  twenty  feet  square.  Midsummer  heat 
was  parching  India.  The  little  garrison  thought  it  all  a  joke, 
when  they  were  ordered  to  go  in  ;  but  to  refuse  was  to  die,  for 
Surajah-ul-Dowlah's  orders  must  be  obeyed;  prolonged  suffering 
was  better  than  instant  death  ;  they  entered,  one  hundred  and 
forty-six  in  all.  The  door  was  closed,  the  small  aperture  admitted 
neither  light  nor  air.  When  they  began  to  exchange  breaths 
the  startling  truth  burst  upon  them.  The  air  already  was  al- 
most putrid  ;  they  shrieked,  they  yelled  in  mortal  agony  ;  they 
screamed  for  water  and  then  killed  each  other  over  the  cup 
which  was  passed  through  the  grating,  while  the  poor  prisoners 
were  biting  and  squeezing  each  other's  life  away — gasping  for 
air,  for  water,  for  anything  to  relieve  them  of  their  agony.  The 
jailers  laughed  and  danced  in  pure  delight.  Holmell,  the  high- 
est in  rank,  offered  the  jailor  heavy  bribes  ;  but  no,  the  Nabob 
was  sleeping,  and  no  one  dared  to  wake  him.  In  the  morning, 
when  the  debauch  was  slept  away,  he  ordered  the  dungeon  door 


242  ASSASSINATION  OF  S>I;KAJAU  UOWLAH. 


to  be  opened,  and  out  staggered  twenty-three  swollen  distorted 
living  corpses  !  Oue  hundred  and  twenty-three  were  piled  up 
— a  putrefying  mass  of  men — all  shapes  and  forms  were  re- 
presented in  the  death  struggle.  The  English  woman  who  sur- 
vived, was  sent  to  the  harem  of  the  Prince  of  Moorshedabad. 
Holwell  was  saved  and  tells  the  tale.  The  dead  were  buried  on 
the  spot,  but  the  harrowing  picture  did  not  move  in  the  least 
the  granite  disposition  of  the  human  tiger.  The  horrible  deed 
reached  Clive,  and  the  celebrated  battle  of  Plassey  showed  the 
inhuman  Nabob  that  it  was  a  fool  hardy  thing  to  trifle  with 
the  feelings  of  Englishmen.  The  soldiers  fought  like  bulldogs ; 
revenge  stimulated  them  on,  and  the  Nabob's  army  of  60,000 
strong  was  broken  like  a  reed.  Clive  lost  but  twenty-two  men. 
The  gallant  39th  still  wears  the  proud  motto.  Primus  in  Indus. 
Clive  was  now  at  the  zenith  of  his  fame,  but  his  enemies  were 
at  work  at  home.  His  successes  against  the  Dutch  invasion 
from  Java,  his  victorious  battles  against  Indian  armies  large 
enough  to  swallow  him,  his  civil  and  administrative  abilities 
could  not  save  him.  He  had  forged  a  solemn  treaty  ;  he  was 
cognizant  of  the  assassination  of  Suraj-Dowlah  by  the  son  of 
the  Nabob  of  his  own  creation,  Meer  Jaffier  ;  he  had  done 
deeds  blackening  to  the  character  of  an  honest  man.  He  went 
back  to  England,  leaving  everything  quiet  behind  him,  and  in 
1765  returned  again,  for  the  third  and  last  time.  Once  more 
he  became  the  company's  benefactor  rooted  out  corruption  and 
bribery  among  the  civil  servants ;  introduced  the  salt  monopoly, 
still  in  existence,  instead  of  increasing  the  pay  of  the  military. 
But  when  he  went  back  to  England  his  libellers  had  made  him 
out  a  villain,  a  fiend  incarnate,  who  had  violated  public  faith, 
reduced  provinces  to  beggary,  deposed  princes,  and  such  men 
as  Mackenzie,  Foote  and  Cooper  assisted  in  driving  the  great 


ADMINISTRATION   OF  LORD   CLIVE.  243 


man  mad,  and  goaded  on  past  all  endurance,  he  carried  out 
the  idiosyncracy  of  his  youth,  for  it  is  supposed  that  the  slan- 
dered Peer,  tired  of  it,  ended  his  own  life. 

When  Clive  left  India  all  went  wrong.  In  1770,  the  crops 
failed — the  famine  was  terrible — millions  perished — some  say 
one-third  of  the  Bengal  population  were  swept  away.  In  1772, 
the  company  were  obliged  to  borrow  from  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land, to  keep  themselves  above  water.  We  are  now  under  the 
administration  of  another  Governor  General,  and  another  in- 
stance of  rising  from  the  ranks  of  humble  life.  Warren  Hast- 
ings arrived  in  Bengal  in  1750,  and  made  illicit  but  successful 
love  to  the  Baroness  Imhoff,  on  his  passage  out — her  husband 
blind  to  the  infidelity.  Commencing  like  Clive,  as  a  writer, 
his  energy  and  his  ability  carried  him  steadily  up  the  ladder  of 
fame. 

His  forte  was  administration,  not  military  tactics  ;  a  great 
man  was  wanted,  and  he  proved  equal  to  the  emergency,  and  he 
used  the  all-selfish  and  all-powerful  freemasonry  of  the  company 
to  carry  out  his  bold  and  sometimes  heartless  plans.  In  re- 
viewing Gleig's  three  volumed  work  on  Warren  Hastings,  in 
the  Edinburgh  Review,  of  1841,  Macaulay  does  not  spare  him, 
for  his  damnable  loaning  of  an  English  Army  to  Suraj-Dowlah 
for  forty  lacs,  or  $2,000,000  to  put  down  the  border  princes. 
For  his  unscrupulous  measures  regarding  the  Begums  of  Oude 
for  the  execution  of  Nuncomar — read  the  impeachment  paper 
before  the  House  of  lords.  When  Sheridan  made  the  ludicrous 
mistake  in  speaking  of  the  "  ferocious  Dhooliess,  who  savagely 
rushed  in  and  carried  the  wounded  from  the  field,"  he  would 
have  laughed,  could  he  have  known  that  he  had  wrought  him- 
self up  to  such  excitement  and  virtuous  indignation  in  describing 
an  open  palanquin,  or  simple  contrivance  for  taking  the  poor 


244  LORD    CORNWALLI3 WARREN    HASTINGS. 


creatures  off  to  the  hospital  shed,  instead  of  to  the  slaughter. 
Sheridan's  speech,  for  which  Burke  and  Fox  had  furnished  the 
material,  does  not  make  the  Governor  General  an  angel  by  any 
means,  and  Macaulay,  in  the  review  alluded  to,  is  bitter  when 
touching  on  that  inhuman  war,  where  their  villages  were  burnt, 
their  children  butchered,  and  their  women  violated.  Hastings 
was  a  wonderful  man,  whether  sending  despatches  in  quills 
made  into  earrings,  to  escape  detection,  when  at  Benares  (after 
Cheyte  Sing  ran  away),  when  his  life  was  in  danger — or  ruling 
the  destinies  of  India,  with  an  impoverished  treasury — or  defend- 
ing himself  in  nine  years'  persecution — when  his  fortune  was 
spent  in  useless  law — he  showed  the  signet  of  a  great  mind. 
These  two,  Olive  and  Hastings,  were  the  earliest  and  the  great- 
est of  the  Governor  Generals  of  India,  and  I  have,  therefore, 
dwelt  longer  when  speaking  of  them. 

While  Lord  Cornwallis  was  losing  the  empire  of  the  West, 
Hastings  preserved  the  empire  of  the  East.  The  one  gave  up 
America,  the  other  saved  the  Carnatic. 

When  England  and  America  were  signing  the  peace  papers, 
Fox  lost  his  India  bill,  and  with  it  the  Premiership  ;  but  his 
powerful  enemy,  Pitt,  with  the  entire  wealth  of  the  East  India 
Company  to  support  him,  the  next  year  was  more  successful, 
and  fixed  himself  firmly  on  the  government  benches.  This  was 
the  bill  which  instituted  the  Board  of  Control,  the  President 
being  the  head  of  the  Indian  government.  The  Governor 
General  and  Council  of  three  one  of  which  was  the  military 
commander-in-chie,f — the  King  holding  the  power  of  nominating 
this  officer,  also  of  approving  or  recalling  the  Governor  General. 
In  1786  Lord  Cornwallis  was  sent  out  by  the  company  ;  and 
although  the  banner  fell  before  the  little  army  of  our  first  Presi- 
dent, he  rose  again  in  India,  and  showed  himself  an  able  gen- 


LORD   TEIGNMOUTH — LORD   MORNINGTON.  245 


eral  and  governor.  In  1793  he  returned  home  after  six  years' 
hard  fighting  with  Tippoo  Saib.  Sir  John  Shore  succeeded,  and, 
after  a  short  stay,  was  made  an  Irish  peer.  Lord  Teigntnouth 
don't  appear  to  have  distinguished  himself,  and  the  Honorable 
Company  made  a  better  appointment  when  they  gave  the  seal 
to  Lord  Mornington,  Marquis  of  Wellesley,  the  Iron  Duke's 
elder  brother — a  man  who  possessed  something  of  the  Clive  and 
Hastings  styles  of  action,  and,  like  them,  fell  into  the  jaws  of 
faction  when  he  returned  to  England.  About  this  time  Napo- 
leon and  Tippoo  were  in  correspondence,  but  all  his  projects 
failed,  and  Wellington  came  within  an  ace  of  meeting  Napoleon, 
with  Sepoy  troops,  in  the  Egyptian  desert ;  but  a  superior  offi- 
cer was  appointed  to  the  command,  and  Wellington  was  obliged 
to  wait  for  Waterloo.  After  Lord  Moruington,  there  was  an- 
other appointment  of  the  Shore  school — Sir  George  Barlow  ; 
but  a  more  appropriate  and  clever  man  succeeded  in  Lord  Min- 
to,  whom  I  will  speak  of  in  another  page. 


CHAPTER   XXY. 

ON  BOARD  THE  STEAMSHIP  NUBIA,    | 
FROM  CALCUTTA  TO  SUEZ,      J 

March,  1856. 

Indian  History  Continued — Shifting  of  English  Politicians  with  Respect 
to  Her — The  Annexed  Territory — Telegraphs  and  Railways — Effects 
_,    of  Conquest 

LORD  MINTO'S  administration  was  noted  for  his  naval  exploits. 
This  was  the  Governor  who,  with  his  ninety  sail,  took  Java 
from  the  French,  but  lost  many  of  his  troops  by  the  fatal  cli- 
mate. He  was  also  successful  at  the  Isle  of  France  ;  but  the 
Bocca  Tigris  and  Macao  expeditions  were  signal  failures. 

In  1813  the  Marquis  of  Hastings,  whom  Americans  have 
reason  to  remember,  was  the  next  Governor  General  of  India  ; 
and  following  in  the  footsteps  of  his  illustrious  namesake,  he 
squeezed  the  treasury  of  Oude  to  get  the  means  of  paying  the 
Company's  debt.  It  was  during  his  reign  that  the  old  Begum, 
which  the  Pitt  opposition  immortalized,  died,  and  in  the  good- 
ness of  her  heart  bequeathed  $2,500,000  to  the  Honorable  Com- 
pany— thus  saving  them  the  trouble  of  seizing  it,  as  is  their 
custom.  Hastings  distinguished  himself  in  breaking  up  and 
dispersing  the  immense  bandit  hordes  of  Pindarees,  who  for 
years  had  plundered  and  robbed,  spreading  devastation  wher- 
ever their  horsemen  charged. 

Brougham's  formidable  rival  in  debate — the  great  Canning — 
received  the  next  appointment ;  but  he  was  wanted  at  home, 


THE    BENGAL    SEPOYS SIEGE    OF    BHUAL-KOOR.  247 


and,  remaining  to  work  his  way  to  the  Premiership,  Earl  Am-- 
herst  was  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and  with  much  ability, 
shown  by  his  success,  carried  on  the  Burmah  war.  The  actions 
were  bold,  daring  and  successful.  Burmah  was  conquered  for 
the  time,  and  the  treasurer  of  the  Company  had  to  disgorge 
$40,000,000  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  war. 

Dr.  Price,  an  American  missionary,  signed  the  treaty  on  be- 
half of  the  King  of  Ava  ;  and  Dr.  Judson,  Fanny  Forrester's 
husband,  has  also  told  us  something  of  the  fierce  battles  that 
convulsed  the  country.  One  of  the  most  alarming  mutinies  of 
the  many  mentioned,  among  the  native  troops,  occurred  at  this 
time  (1824).  The  Bengal  sepoys,  who,  fearful  of  losing  caste 
by  going  to  sea,  disobeyed  orders  ;  but  the  decision  of  the  offi- 
cial, in  shooting  down  the  leaders,  saved  the  mutiny  from  spread- 
ing, and  the  prompt  disbanding  of  the  Forty-seventh  native  in- 
fantry had  the  desired  effect  of  quelling  an  insubordination  that 
gave  the  government  much  cause  for  alarm. 

The  celebrated  siege  of  Bhual-koor,  near  Agra,  was  in  1827. 
In  Calcutta  I  saw  the  monument  of  Lord  William  Bentinck, 
(who  in  1828,  was  sent  up  from  Madras  to  relieve  Earl  Am- 
herst,)  for  abolishing  Suttee  or  the  self-immolation  of  widows 
on  the  funeral  fagots  of  her  deceased  consort.  It  was  a  bold 
measure,  for  it  interfered  with  their  religion,  but  it  was  success- 
ful. But  he  did  not  fare  as  well  in  doing  away  with  flogging 
in  the  army,  for  he  had  to  bear  the  whole  brunt  of  every  trifl- 
ing act  of  indiscipline  ;  every  sign  of  insubordination  was  heaped 
upon  his  shoulders.  In  1833  the  opposition  in  Parliament  suc- 
ceeded in  breaking  up  the  monopoly  of  the  China  trade,  which 
for  so  long  a  period  had  thrown  a  wet  sheet  over  all  private 
enterprise.  With  this  measure,  the  Court  of  Directors  ceased 
to  be  merchant  princes.  At  this  time  the  Duke  of  Wellington, 


248  HORRORS  OF  INDIAN  WARFARE. 

'  j.  ' 

m  speaking  of  what  the  company  owed,  said  their  entire  debt 
was  only  $200,000,000,  or  about  equal  to  two  years  revenue. 

Lord  Auckland,  in  1835,  took  the  helm,  and  held  it  till  1841 
— after  having  been  led  by  the  nose  by  the  unfortunate  Captain 
Burnes  into  that  fatal  Affghan  campaign,  where  disgrace  fol- 
ed  disgrace  with  a  rapidity  that  even  astonished  the  natives — 
all  the  horrors  of  Indian  warfare  were  experienced  during  that 
short  campaign  ;  26,000  human  beings  perished  in  the  cowardly 
affair  of  the  Passes — an  everlasting  disgrace  to  those  who  failed 
to  show  themselves  worthy  of  their  official  position.  On  the  3d 
November,  1841,  occurred  the  ambush,  the  surprise,  the  retreat ; 
where,  says  the  English  historian  MacFarland  with  deserving 
severity,  "  Our  commanding  officers  continued  in  their  imbecility 
until  our  troops  were  infected  with  downright  cowardice.  Not 
merely  the  shivering,  half-starved  sepoys,  but  our  British  born 
soldiers,  cowered  before  a  barbarous  and  stupid  enemy,  whom 
they  had  so  often  beaten.  *****  Where  our  offi- 
cers behav«d  like  fools,  and  our  men  like  cowards,  the  retreat 
of  the  14th  December,"  says  the  same  writer,  "  was  as  appalling 
as  it  was  disastrous — even  worse  than  that  of  the  French  from 
Moscow.  In  both  instances,  hail,  snow  and  ice,  nakedness  and 
famine,  slew  more  than  the  sword." 

A  change  in  the  British  ministry  brought  Peel  a  second  time 
to  the  head  of  affairs  in  the  British  Cabinet,  and  Lord  Ellenbo- 
rough  was  sent  in  1842  to  India,  and  his  able  management  during 
the  Affghan  campaign  won  him  laurels  from  the  army  as  well  as 
from  high  officials.  Even  the  Iron  Duke  complimented  him  in 
eulogistic  language  among  the  peers  of  the  realm  ;  but  his  haugh- 
ty and  dictatorial  language  offended  the  dignity  of  the  Court 
of  Directors,  who  showed  their  unlimited  power  in  recalling  the 
Governor  General,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  govern- 


THE   ANNEXED   TERRITORY.  249 


ment.  The  next  step  in  the  empire's  history  was  the  arrival  of 
Sir  Henry  Hardinge,  the  present  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
Queen's  army,  whose  activity  and  energy  made  enemies  as  well 
as  friends.  He  modified  the  duty  on  salt,  he  abolished  Lord 
Bentinck's  order  of  flogging,  and,  with  such  leaders  as  Sir  Hugh 
Gough,  Sir  Charles  Napier  and  Sir  Harry  Smith,  he  conquered 
the  Punjaub,  making  the  Sikhs  surrender  their  swords,  and  bow 
to  the  British  yoke.  He  accomplished  much,  and,  leaving  a 
good  name  behind  him,  he  made  way  for  Lord  Dalhousie,  in 
1848,  who  plunged  into  war  as  soon  as  he  arrived  at  Govern- 
ment House,  and  the  battle  field  of  Chillian  Wallah  is  still  red 
with  the  blood  of  the  sons  of  England.  During  his  reign  four 
kingdoms  have  been  annexed — the  Punjaub,  in  1849  ;  Bur- 
mah,  in '52  ;  Nagpore,  in  '54,  and  last,  though  not  by  any  means 
the  least,  Oude  a  few  days  before  his  departure  for  England. 
For  these  bold  measures,  when  he  has  only  carried  out  the 
instructions  of  the  directors,  and  through  them  of  the  British 
government,  the  Parlimentary  opposition  are  ready  to  open 
their  batteries  against  him  and  he  will  be  fortunate  if  he  escapes 
the  storm  that  awaits  the  arrival  of  every  Governor  of  India 
who  has  displayed  extraordinary  energy. 

The  extensive  tract  of  empire  that  has  been  annexed,  and 
the  millions  of  people  added  to  the  British  community,  will  pro- 
duce warm  compliment  from  one  party,  but  like  hostility  from 
the  other  ;  but  there  are  few  in  India  who,  although  they  may 
not  admire  the  man,  are  unwilling  to  testify  to  what  he  has 
accomplished.  His  administration  will  always  be  memorable 
for  the  introduction  of  the  two  great  inventions  of  the  present 
century — the  telegraph  and  the  railroad.  Whatever  may  be 
the  political  questions  he  may  be  censured  for,  these  will  prove 
counter  arguments  with  his  friends.  You  will  be  surprised  to 


250  TELEGRAPH    FROM    CALCUTTA    TO    BOMBAY. 


learn  that  India,  during  the  last  two  years,  bids  fair  to  keep 
pace  with  the  United  States  in  the  magnetic  wire.  Dr.  O' 
Shaughnessy  is  the  Professor  Morse  of  India  ;  with  the  powerful 
machinery  at  his  command  as  a  servant  of  the  company,  he  has 
distinguished  himself  by  his  energy  and  his  works.  I  am  glad 
to  find  him  a  fellow  passenger  en  route  for  home,  with  a  view  of 
running  the  wire  from  England  to  India — an  undertaking  which, 
no  doubt,  will  shortly  be  accomplished,  judging  from  what  has 
been  done.  The  first  wire,  he  tells  me,  was  extended  Nov.  1, 
1853,  Twenty  parties  of  workmen  (soldiers)  left  Calcutta  and 
Bombay,  under  English  leaders,  and  in  March,  1854,  the  offices 
were  opened  at  the  half-way  station  of  Agra  and  by  the  middle 
of  June  the  first  message  went  through  to  Bombay,  a  distance 
of  1,600  miles,  since  which,  lines  have  been  established  from 
Bombay  to  Madras,  800  miles  ;  from  Agra  to  Peshawur,  on 
the  borders  of  Affghanistan,  forming  the  populous  cities  of  Delhi, 
Lahore,  and  Attoch  on  the  Indus,  some  800  miles  ;  besides  a 
line  200  miles  from  Rangoon  to  Prome  and  Meaday,  connecting 
the  seaport  with  the  frontier  of  Ava,  and  other  smaller  lines, 
making  a  total  of  some  4,000  miles  in  two  years  time.  In  less 
than  five  years  ten  thousand  miles  of  electric  wire  will  connect 
the  chief  points  of  the  Indian  empire,  says  the  Doctor.  No.  1 
galvanized  wire,  about  half  a  mile  to  the  ton,  would  give  an 
aggregate  of  2,000  tons.  The  original  posts  were  made  of  cheap 
wood,  but  subsequently  iron  wood  from  Burmah,  solid  granite 
posts,  brick  and  mortar  doors  and  iron  screw  posts  are  those 
used  ;  the  cost  is  about  $250  per  mile. 

The  wires  are  about  sixteen  feet  from  the  ground,  sufficiently 
high  to  allow  a  loaded  elephant  to  pass  under.  About  thirty 
miles  of  submarine  wires,  costing  $1,000  per  mile,  have  been 
laid  down  across  the  rivers.  About  three  hundred  manipulators 


B.   If.    STEPHENSON,   THK   RAILWAY   KINO.  251 


are  employed,  and  two  hundred  more  servants,  making  a  staff 
of  five  hundred  men.  There  are  seventy  offices  already  erected, 
in  charge  of  Europeans  and  half  castes,  the  great  difficulty  has 
been  in  procuring  proper  workmen,  and  Dr.  O'Shaughnessy  pur- 
poses visiting  the  States  before  returning  to  India,  in  order  to 
procure  a  staff  of  American  managers.  There  are  no  double 
lines  laid  down,  nor  will  there  be.  The  annual  cost  of  the  estab- 
lishment is  $150,000. 

The  only  paying  line  will  be  that  between  Bombay  and  Cal- 
cutta, where  one-third  of  the  despatches  are  sent  by  natives. 
The  object  of  the  government  in  establishing  such  an  agency 
throughout  their  wide  extent  of  empire  is,  of  course  to  increase 
their  political  and  military  power,  for  the  enterprise  as  an  invest- 
ment would  prove  disastrous.  An  instance  of  its  advantage 
was  noticed  at  the  recent  annexation  of  Oude.  A  few  hours 
after  the  despatch  arrived  from  the  home  government,  giving 
consent,  the  Council  met — troops  were  on  the  way — orders  were 
given,  and  Oude  was  a  part  of  the  British  empire — all  done  by 
the  lightning's  flash.  In  times  of  war  it  must  be  of  vast  import- 
ance, until  the  native  enemies  learn  to  cut  the  wire,  as  specula- 
tors did  when  the  Cunard  steamers  touched  at  Halifax.  Rail- 
ways do  not  progress  as  rapidly,  yet  something  has  been  done  in 
that  way — a  guarantee  of  five  per  cent  interest  on  the  outlay 
for  such  enterprise  is  made  by  the  honorable  company  ;  but  who 
is  to  make  up  the  loss  between  the  annual  expenditure  and  the 
annual  receipts,  for  profit  and  loss  will  be  charged  for  many  years 
with  a  serious  balance  ? 

R.  M.  Stephenson,  Esq.  the  railway  king  of  India,  is  also  a 
fellow  passenger,  for  England.     His  perseverance,  his  untired 
industry  in  accomplishing  so  arduous  an  enterprise,  and  his  amia- 
ble qualities  as  a  man,  have  earned  him  a  most  complimentary 
* 


DIFFERENT   RAILWAYS — PROFIT    AND   LOSS. 


address  from  his  many  friends.  In  his  reply  he  shows  how  san- 
guine he  is  of  the  progress  of  his  pet  projects,  for  he  expects  that 
in  less  than  ten  years  England  may  be  reached  in  twelve  days 
time,  and  the  magnetic  wire  will  communicate  with  the  mother 
country  in  as  many  hours.  I  shall  not  be  surprised  at  the 
latter  result,  but  must  say  the  former  looks  formidable — for 
Asiatic,  African  and  European  soil  does  not  cultivate  and  nour- 
ish activity  and  enterprise  as  does  the  American. 

The  railway  from  Calcutta  to  Raneegunge,  or  to  the  Burdwan 
coal  mines,  is  121  miles  ;  a  single  rail,  costing  about  $50,000 
per  mile.  A  company  has  been  formed  to  connect  Madras  with 
the  opposite  coast,  a  distance  of  300  miles,  passing  through 
Wellington's  and  Brand's  battlefields,  via  Arcot  and  Seringa- 
patam  (branching  out  to  Bangalore,)  on  to  Trichinoopoly  to 
Coirnbatoor  on  the  Malabar  coast,  thus  connecting  the  great 
cities  of  Southern  India.  Some  fifty  miles  have  been  completed 
from  Madras.  On  the  other  side,  the  Bombay,  Barado  and 
Central  Indian  Railway,  and  the  great  Indian  Peninsular  Rail- 
way, extend  their  branches  a  long  way  along  the  shore  and 
inland.  About  fifty  miles  only  is  in  operation  from  Bombay. 
Another  line  is  intended  to  join  Bombay  with  the  Madras  fron- 
tier, via  Belgaum,  Saltara,  Toona,  &c.— from  Kurrochee  to  the 
Indus  about  120  miles,  and  a  section  from  Bombay,  200  miles 
to  Surat.  This  is  the  grand  trunk  line  of  the  Northwest,  and 
is  to  extend  to  Lahore,  a  distance  from  Calcutta  of  1,350  miles. 
Contracts  already  have  been  made  as  far  as  Agra,  Railway 
enterprise  in  India  commands  much  praise  for  its  projectors,  for 
many  are  the  impediments  to  be  overcome.  As  in  England  and 
America,  those  in  the  front  rank  will  sink  their  money,  making 
room  for  those  who  follow  later  on,  to  profit  by  other's  losses. 
But,  nevertheless,  the  steam  whistle  must  work  a  moral  change 
iu  Jndia. 


HINDOO   TALENT,    QUICK   OBSERVATION.  253 


I  have  now  ran  over  the  history  of  India  since  commerce 
opened  the  country,  from  Capt.  Lawrence  to  Josiah  Child  ; 
from  Child  to  Clive,  and  from  Clive  to  Hastings  and  Morning- 
ton,  past  Dalhousie  to  Canning,  who  is  next  in  turn — 'tis  a 
strange  and  interesting  history,  the  formation  of  the  East  India 
Company.  Merchants  wish  to  trade,  and  call  in  political  power 
to  assist  them  ;  then  jealousy  arises,  ambition,  conquest  and  a 
standing  army,  now  numbering  300,000  men  hi  round  numbers, 
only  30,000  of  which  are  Queen's  troops — all  paid  by  the  Com- 
pany. For  two  centuries  the  natives  have  been  brought  in 
contact  with  the  Christian  race — and  what  is  there  to  show  for 
it  ?  Ancient  and  modern  writers  assure  us  that  the  products  of 
the  soil,  the  peculiar  mode  of  irrigation,  the  strange  fancy  for 
copper  utensils,  the  simple  cotton  cloth  about  the  loins,  the 
brilliancy  of  their  colors  and  dyes,  their  extravagant  love  of  jew- 
elry— wearing  them  in  ears,  nose,  on  their  toes,  their  ancles, 
their  fingers,  their  necks,  and  their  arms — the  custom  of  eating 
alone,  the  religious  seclusion  of  their  women,  the  cutting  off  of 
goats'  heads  for  the  sacrifice,  the  training  of  elephants,  and  the 
extraordinary  divisions  of  caste  remaining  unchanged  ;  habits 
and  customs  of  a  thousand  years  ago  are  the  habits  and  customs 
now.  The  Hindoo  talent,  then,  of  quick  observation,  persever- 
ance, dexterity,  tact,  against  the  vices  of  greediness,  servility 
and  treachery,  have  gone  through  trifling  changes  for  centuries. 
The  European  vices  have  been  carefully  studied  ;  but  the  Euro- 
pean's virtues  don't  flourish  in  the  Hindoo's  mind.  Of  course, 
there  are  some  exceptions  ;  but  I  have  yet  to  learn  that  the 
merchant,  the  missionary  or  the  soldier  have  been  able  to  break 
up  prejudices  which  have  for  so  long  been  handed  down  from 
generation  to  generation. 

India  is  a  land  of  conquest,  and  requires  an  immense  standing 


254  EFFECTS    OF    CONQUEST. 


army  to  hold  it.  As  a  conquered  country,  the  East  India 
Company  may  make  as  good  masters  as  any  other  company  or 
any  other  government.  It  is  difficult  to  understand  where  the 
company's  power  ceases  and  where  England's  commences — 
which  is  Blucher,  and  which  the  Duke  of  Wellington  ? — the 
Hon.  Court  of  Directors  and  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Con- 
trol act  in  concert ;  and  the  Company  and  the  government  are 
so  closely  connected  that  they  must  soon  amalgamate. 

So  long  as  pensions,  wages,  salaries  are  paid  to  the  Sepoy 
troops,  under  able  and  popular  English  officers — so  long  as  their 
caste  or  their  religion  remains  unmolested — so  long  as  the 
natives  continue  to  prove  so  faithless  and  possess  so  little  confi- 
dence in  each  other,  England  will  hold  her  Indian  empire  ;  for 
the  Sepoy  soldier  is  proverbially  true  to  his  salt.  There  is  one 
thing  morally  certain  ;  fortunes  are  not  realized  by  civil  and 
military  officials,  by  merchants,  by  professional  men,  by  individ- 
uals and  corporations,  as  in  days  of  yore,  for  there  are  very  few 
who  return  to  England  with  the  means  of  supporting  Indian 
extravagance  or  the  means  of  enjoying  the  luxuries  of  Indian 
life.  A  quarter  of  a  century's  service  under  the  Indian  sky 
purchases  an  Indian  pension  dearly  bought — too  often  by  the 
loss  of  health,  of  spirits  and  of  friends.  The  Indian  army  and 
the  Indian  civil  service  still  continue  to  offer  employment, 
through  influence,  to  the  younger  sons  of  Britain,  who  grow 
prematurely  old  in  serving  their  country,  with  the  hopes  of  bet- 
tering their  own  position.  An  Indian  fortune  is  like  the  mirage 
which  Napoleon  saw  on  the  plains  of  Egypt. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 


ON  BOARD  THE  STEAMSHIP  NUBIA, 
FROM  CALCUTTA  TO  MADRAS 


IIA,  ) 
»      ) 

March  9  to  11,  1856. 


A  Crowded  Steamer — Monopoly  of  the  Eastern  Company — Their  Ships, 
Receipts  and  Expenses — Arrival  in  Madras — What  Strangers  See. 

ABOUT  10  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning  our  steamer  swung  off 
from  the  moorings,  and  an  hour  later  about  a  hundred  passen- 
gers gave  a  parting  look  at  the  Indian  city  and  its  suburban 
mansions  on  the  river's  banks,  and  the  Nubia  was  heading  tow- 
ards her  destined  port.  That  night  we  anchored,  and  the  next 
— for  our  ship  draws  twenty-one  feet — and  not  until  4  o'clock 
P.  M.  on  the  llth  did  we  get  clear  of  the  windings  of  the  Hoog- 
ly  and  the  shoals  at  Sand  Heads.  Then  our  pilot  received  his 
$100  present,  over  and  above  his  regular  pilotage,  for  simply 
doing  his  duty,  in  not  running  us  on  shore  ;  and  boarding  his 
brig,  he  left  us  to  find  our  way  alone.  The  decks  are  crowded 
— men,  women  and  children — I  dare  not  say  how  many — but 
all  of  them  strangers  to  me.  I  never  before  felt  so  little  inclined 
to  make  the  acquaintance  of  my  fellow  passengers.  Five  years 
of  moving  about  the  world  has  taken  away  that  irresistible  desire 
I  experienced  when  making  my  maiden  tour  over  my  own  coun- 
try, that  I  might  not  be  an  ignoramus  when  I  went  abroad,  to 
know  everybody  about  me.  Now  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  to 
wait  for  the  advances,  instead  of  making  them  all  myself. 


256  MONOPOLY   OF   THE    EASTERN   COMPANY. 


Our  steamer  is  one  of  the  newest,  the  largest  and  finest  in  the 
extensive  fleet  of  this  extensive  company — now  the  largest  in 
the  world.  It  was  up-hill  work  at  first,  but  government  encour- 
aged, subscribers  came  forward,  receipts  looked  favorable,  good 
fortune  accompanied  the  enterprise,  and  the  Cattle  Carrying 
Steam  Company  between  Ireland  and  England,  of  some  fifteen 
or  twenty  years  ago,  has  steadily  grown  into  a  powerful  monop- 
oly that  individual  enterprise  cannot  profitably  compete  with. 
A  royal  charter  was  obtained  at  the  commencement  of  1841, 
just  after  Cunard  opened  up  the  Boston  line.  In  1845  and  in 
1854  they  received  further  powers  and  grants  from  Parliament, 
with  a  capital  of  seven  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars,  with  the 
liberty  of  increasing  it  to  twelve  and  a  half  millions,  with  forty 
powerful  steamships,  registering  about  52,000  tons  and  14,000 
horse  power  ;  with  an  organized  force  of  forty  experienced  cap- 
tains, and  the  same  number  of  mates  and  engineers  of  each  rank, 
and  duplicates  hoping  for  a  chance  ;  with  all  the  minor  depart- 
ments efficiently  filled,  from  stoker  to  steward  ;  with  coal  hulks, 
and  stations  and  agencies  all  along  the  route  from  Southampton 
to  Shanghae,  rendering  facilities  that  required  years  of  experi- 
ence to  obtain  ;  with  all  the  working  apparatus  thoroughly 
systematized,  from  the  Court  of  Directors  in  London  to  the 
Serangs  and  Burra  Tindels  in  the  Indian  seas  ;  with  the  confi- 
dence and  powerful  patronage  of  the  British  government,  and 
the  support  of  the  East  India  Company  ;  in  a  word,  with  their 
great  wealth  and  means,  and  their  unlimited  credit,  the  Penin- 
sular and  Oriental  Company  may  go  on  increasing  their  steam- 
ers, enlarging  their  operations  by  extending  their  lines  to  other 
parts  of  the  world,  declaring  their  dividends,  grow  more  and 
more  independent,  and  finally  laugh  at  competition,  no  matter 
from  whence  it  may  appear.  Now,  coaling  freights  and  lucra- 


ARRIVAL   IN    MADRAS.  257 


tire  employment  in  the  Black  sea,  with  half  the  fleet  composed 
of  screw  steamers,  and  an  increasing  passenger  and  cargo  trade, 
their  dividends  will  increase  the  value  of  the  shares.  The  Nubia 
is  2,200  tons,  but  only  450  horse  power.  The  Simla  is  2,600. 
The  other  large  steamer,  the  Himalaya,  the  company  were  for- 
tunate in  selling  to  the  government  for  $650,000.  The  Pera, 
2,650  ;  the  Bengal,  2,300,  and  the  Alma,  2,200,  are  among  the 
largest  in  the  line. 

The  annual  receipts  of  the  company  are  about  equal  to  their 
starting  capital — a  million  and  half  sterling. 

We  have  steamed  about  eleven  knots  an  hour,  and  at  3  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  14th  we  anchored  in  Madras  Roads  ; 
five  days  from  Calcutta,  nearly  three  of  which  were  passed  in 
getting  by  the  Hoogly,  770  miles.  Twenty-four  hours  at  Mad- 
ras is  amply  sufficient  for  the  most  enthusiastic  traveler,  unless 
he  is  desirous  of  making  excursions  to  the  interior  or  the  other 
coast.  At  any  rate,  the  time  on  shore  was  all  that  I  required 
to  disgust  me  with  the  port.  The  explorer,  the  surveyor,  or 
nautical  man,  or  whoever  selected  the  harbor,  should  have  his 
name  painted  on  a  shingle.  Is  it  possible  that  no  better  anch- 
orage— no  better  landing  place — no  better  port  could  be  found 
along  the  coast ;  and  if  so,  why  was  this  place  chosen  ?  A 
hundred  years  and  more  have  passed  away  since  then,  and  still 
you  have  the  same  facilities.  An  open  roadstead,  without  the 
least  point  of  land,  or  rock,  or  hill  to  shelter  ;  no  breakwater — 
no  wharf — no  pier — no  floating  frame — not  even  a  landing 
stage.  Huge  native  surf  boats,  thirty  feet  long  and  eight  feet 
deep,  by  as  many  broad,  the  timbers  bound  together  with  rope 
and  string,  without  a  nail,  or  bolt,  or  spike,  and  manned  by 
eleven  naked  savages,  came  alongside  to  take  us  ashore — no,  I 
must  not  say  naked,  for  there  is  an  attempt  at  costume.  You 


258  FIRST    FORT    BUILT    IN    INDIA. 


may,  perhaps,  better  understand  the  difference  between  the  Cal- 
cutta and  the  Madras  boatmen  in  that  respect,  when  I  mention 
that  the  former  appears  with  a  small  white  pocket  handkerchief 
round  about  him  ;  the  latter  contents  himself  with  a  twine 
string.  The  day  was  perfectly  calm,  yet  the  surf  washed  over 
our  boat  once  or  twice  ;  and  when  finally  through,  the  black, 
beggarly  natives — I  hate  the  sight  of  them — take  you  on  their 
shoulders  to  dry  land.  This  is  the  only  contrivance  yet  intro- 
duced for  landing  or  embarking  passengers.  Our  sex  can 
manage  it  very  well,  but  I  pity  the  women  who  have  to  be  cart- 
ed round  like  so  many  bags  of  clothing. 

To  order  a  supper  at  the  Clarendon,  and  a  carriage  at  the 
stable — to  read  the  latest  dates  from  England,  and  eat  an  ice 
cream,  occupied  our  time  for  an  hour,  and  then  we  started  off 
for  a  cruise,  up  one  street  and  down  another — through  dirty 
alleys  and  clean  thoroughfares — visiting  the  jail,  the  parade 
ground,  the  place  of  burning  the  dead,  the  railway  station,  and 
the  Bentinck  monument — stopping  a  moment  to  witness  the 
exercises  of  a  Hindoo  school,  and  hurrying  on  to  the  depots, 
the  market  place  and  the  cathedral — driving  some  four  miles 
into  the  country,  and  returning  in  time  to  meet  the  carriages 
on  their  way  to  the  fort,  for  it  is  Friday  evening,  and  the  band 
holds  forth. 

The  fort  was  one  of  the  first  built  in  India.  In  1622  the 
ground  was  bought  of  a  native  prince,  and  Mr.  F.  Day  claims 
the  honor  of  erecting  the  fortress,  then  named  and  now  known 
as  Fort  Saint  George.  Here  is  where  the  French  and  the  En- 
glish crossed  swords  so  often — both  nations  alternate  masters. 
Labourdonnais,  the  gallant  sailor,  Governor  of  the  Isle  of 
France,  raised  the  French  flag  over  the  ramparts  in  1744,  but 
at  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  it  was  given  back  to  England. 


•WHAT    STRANGERS    SEE.  259 


Dupleix's  star  shone  with  almost  an  unnatural  brilliancy  on 
this  ground  for  a  short  time,  only  to  be  buried  in  darker  gloom. 
The  daring  Frenchman  saw  visions  of  empire  long  before  his 
compeers,  and,  at  one  time,  he  ruled  a  kingdom.  Here,  too, 
Clive  first  drove  the  quill ;  and  failing  to  destroy  himself  on 
two  occasions,  realized  that  he  was  born  for  something  great. 
Hastings,  I  believe,  was  also  first  at  this  Presidency,  and  it  was 
here  that  Halliburton  originated  the  Bengal  army,  and  Sepoys 
first  learned  the  art  of  war — where  one  part  of  the  native 
community  was  armed  and  drilled  to  shoot  down  the  other. 
Some  of  the  early  native  officers  highly  distinguished  themselves.  J^ 
Orme  speaks  particularly  of  Mahomed  Isof  as  a  siibahdar  of 
great  skill  as  an  engineer  and  brave  soldier  in  battle.  The  fort 
is  strongly  fortified  and  ably  garrisoned.  The  band  was  noth- 
ing remarkable,  and  the  array  of  beauty  and  epaulettes,  the 
assembly  of  carriages,  paled  before  the  remembrance  of  Cal- 
cutta. Late  in  the  evening  we  returned  to  the  steamer,  as 
much  disgusted  with  Madras  as"  everybody  must  be  whose 
interests  are  not  in  the  place.  The  row  of  buildings  on  the 
beach,  that  so  delighted  the  lady  tourist  who  had  journeyed 
around  the  world,  have  hardly  a  redeeming  feature,  for  the  cli- 
mate spoils  their  appearance  and  gives  them  a  shaky,  red,  sand 
stained  look  that  fairly  chills  you  with  desolation.  An  infant 
typhoon  or  the  preliminaries  of  a  New  Zealand  earthquake 
would  be  apt  to  open  to  a  dangerous  degree  some  of  the  many 
cracks.  There  may  be  beautiful  residences,  in  the  midst  of 
extensive  parks,  in  'the  country,  but  the  country"  is  not  Madras. 
I  am  only  giving  my  impressions  of  the  city.  Two  American 
ships  were  in  port,  the  John  M.  Majo  and  the  Sabine,  with  car- 
goes of  ice  from  Boston  for  the  Company.  I  called  upon  the 
leading  merchant  of  the  place,  whose  house  was  established 

• 


260  LEAVE    MADRAS. 


before  I  was  born.  The  rebellion  in  China,  he  remarked,  had 
seriously  injured  the  cotton  export  trade  to  the  Celestials,  but 
indigo  still  held  its  own.  The  annual  export  is  about  10,000 
chests,  and  33,000  from  Calcutta ;  and  this  year  the  planters 
are  realizing  splendid  returns. 

On  looking  out  of  my  sideport  in  the  morning,  there  lay  the 
Bengal,  having  arrived  in  the  night  from  Suez,  with  news  pa- 
cific— but  who  credits  it  ?  Russia  is  noted  for  diplomacy.  At 
12  o'clock  we  fired  our  gun  and  turned  our  backs  upon  Madras 
— a  place  too  barren  and  cheerless  for  even  a  penal  settlement — 
not  to  mention  it  as  the  residence  of  a  voluntarly  exile.  I  would 
rather  be  a  clerk  in  England  than  the  head  of  a  department  in 
Madras.  Without  their  semi-monthly  mail,  life  would  be  insup- 
portable. 


CHAPTEB   XXVII. 


OH  BOARD  THE  STEAMSHIP  NUBIA, 
FROM  MADRAS  TO  ADEN, 


BIA,   > 
,       J 

March  11  to  17,  1856. 

Run  from  Madras  to  Aden  —  Ashore  at  Point  de  Galle  —  The  Hotels  — 
How  Aden  was  Taken  from  the  Arabs  —  Its  Population  and  Situa- 
tion. 

DURING  the  day  of  our  departure  we  kept  the  coast  in  view, 
but  saw  nothing  but  the  highlands  and  sandy  plains  at  their 
base.  Thus  far  nothing  but  a  smooth  sea,  all  goes  well.  Amer- 
ican ice  cools  the  water  and  hardens  the  butter,  and  a  better 
table  is  spread  than  was  expected.  The  officers  seem  obliging  ; 
but  the  passengers  —  good  gracious,  how  frightfully  stiff  !  —  for 
most  of  them  are  servants  of  the  Company,  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest,  each  vain  of  his  position,  but  all  forgetting  that  a 
voyage  at  sea  generally  brings  them  to  a  level.  Nothing  but 
dignity  thus  far,  however.  When  will  they  unbend,  unless  they 
wish  to  be  eccentric  ?  I'll  content  myself  by  exchanging  a  friendly 
word  with  those  who,  from  crying,  have  began  to  talk,  and  in 
reading  Macauley's  last  volume  till  I  get  to  Aden.  Up  to  this 
time  not  even  a  moonlight  song.  How  different  from  the  cour- 
tesy on  board  of  the  North  Atlantic  steamships  !  There  all  is 
cheerfulness  and  good  nature.  Here  you  are  frozen  with  the 
dignity  of  office.  Of  course  there  are  exceptions. 

On  the  17th,  at  5  P.  M.,  after  luxuriating  in  the  beautiful 


262  THE    HOTELS. 


scenery  of  Ceylon,  which  had  attracted  our  notice  since  the 
morning — scenery  of  the  tropical  kind,  and  celebrated  for  its 
resplendent  beauty — we  got  a  pilot,  and  made  fast  our  anchor 
off  the  stone  fort  of  Point  de  Galle.  Another  style  of  native  is 
alongside — the  men  wearing  long  hair  rolled  up  behind,  with  a 
circular  tortoise  shell  comb,  like  women,  so  that  yon  find  it  a 
difficult  thing  to  distinguish  them  from  the  other  gender.  An- 
other style  of  boat  waits  to  take  you  off,  for  a  shilling — a  boat 
more  peculiar  than  any  I  have  seen  since  leaving  Port  Philip, 
remarkable  for  its  singular  construction— more  singular  than  the 
catamaran  at  Madras,  where  two  logs  tied  together  make  a  good 
surf  boat.  This  one  consists  of  one  log,  hollowed  out  and  boxed 
up,  the  top  part  about  twelve  inches  wide  ;  and  you  sit  upon  a 
platform  overhanging  the  water.  To  keep  the  thing  from  capsiz- 
ing, they  have  an  outrigger,  some  ten  feet  long,  running  parallel 
with  the  boat,  made  of  heavy  wood.  I  asked  the  boatman  if 
they  ever  turned  over,  and  he  promptly  replied  "  Frequently." 
There  were  several  hotels  on  shore,  but  the  New  Mansion 
House  seems  to  be  the  favorite.  I  had  no  fault  to  find  with  my 
board,  and  the  only  objection  touching  the  bed  was  on  account 
of  the  partitions  of  the  several  bedrooms  extending  only  half  way 
to  the  ceiling,  giving  your  neighbour  the  opportunity  of  hearing 
every  movement  in  the  room.  There  is  but  one  two  horse  car- 
riage in  the  place,  and  that  was  private,  so  our  party  were 
obliged  to  put  up  with  a  "  gurry  ;"  and  having  no  time  to  lose 
we  were  driven  out  to  the  cinnamon  grove.  The  only  things  you 
see  there,  however,  are  a  few  stunted  cinnamon  trees  ;  but  the 
ride  along  the  shore  was  the  best,  the  whole  distance  shaded  by 
groves  of  cocoa  and  beetle  nut  trees  ;  and  the  little  thatched 
cottages  or  huts  of  the  Singalese  give  an  interesting  picture  to 
those  unaccustomed  to  the  island.  We  went  beyond  the  grove, 


POINT    DE    GALLE.  263 


to  "  see  the  elephant"  draw  stone  to  where  a  new  bridge  is  being 
built  across  one  of  the  little  rivers.  Returning,  we  visited  one 
or  two  of  the  Bhudhist  temples,  none  of  which  bore  any  com- 
parison to  those  in  China  ;  gaudy  pictures  on  the  walls,  with- 
out any  idea  of  perspective,  representing  all  the  characteristics 
of  their  creed,  were  the  only  things  noticeable. 

We  also  visited  the  English  and  the  Dutch  burial  places, 
where  the  number  of  tombs  tell  that  the  fate  of  man  is  the  same 
in  every  land,  but  that  some  climates  shorten  life. 

John  Black  a  Scotchman,  who  has  been  a  resident  here  for 
many  years,  is  the  representative  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
time  will  be  long  distant  when  he  has  any  one  to  oppose  him  at 
Washington,  for  I  fancy  that  there  are  few  Americans  desirous 
of  locating  in  Galle  ;  for  the  arrival  and  departures  of  the  Com- 
pany's boats,  and  the  occasional  appearance  of  a  freight-seeking 
ship  is  all  you  have  to  break  the  monotony  of  living  there,  or 
adding  commissions  to  your  account.  Point  De  Galle  is  a  wall- 
ed city,  and  though  built  so  long  ago,  the  fort  ramparts  and 
embankments  are  still  strong,  and  show  little  decay.  The  Dutch 
and  the  Portuguese  have  given  their  features  to  many  of  those 
you  meet  within  the  walls,  but  the  number  of  Europeans  in  the 
city  are  under  twenty. 

The  United  States  steamship  San  Jaciuto  has  just  coaled 
here  and  gone  on  to  Penang,  where  the  Japanese  Consul  has 
been  awaiting  her.  As  a  coal  station  the  port  is  important, 
but  for  little  else  ;  were  it  not  for  the  steamers  it  would  be  un- 
known as  a  shipping  place.  It  is  a  flower  garden  in  comparison 
with  the  sunburnt  desert  of  Madras.  I  find  letters  and  papers 
here  from  Melbourne  to  the  23d  January. 

On  the  18th,  at  3  P.  M.,  we  sailed  for  Aden,  and  arrived  at 
noon  on  the  26th,  one  of  the  most  rapid  passages  recorded 


264  ADEN,    ITS    POPULATION. 


between  the  ports.  I  found  the  place  of  more  interest  than  I 
expected,  but  there  is  a  dreariness  about  it  that  gives  man  the 
blues. 

It  must  be  now  some  twenty  years  since  this  rock-bound  port 
was  taken  from  the  Arabs  by  the  East  India  Company.  After 
getting  possession  they  had  some  trouble  with  the  natives,  who 
several  times  tried  to  regain  what  they  had  lost.  To  compro- 
mise, the  Company,  I  am  informed,  agreed  to  pay  five  lacs  of 
rupees  to  the  Sultan  of  Lahads,  but  I  don't  remember  of  his 
ever  getting  a  penny.  Aden  is  an  ancient  port.  Its  brightest 
history  is  in  the  past. — Roman  generals,  Turkish  merchants, 
and  bold  navigators  of  "  ye  days  of  ye  great  king  Solyman," 
were  familiar  with  the  harbor  and  the  rock,  which  rises  up  some 
two  thousand  feet  in  the  air.  Centuries  ago  Aden  must  have 
been  a  port  of  some  consideration.  Its  importance  now  is  con- 
siderable. England  wants  it — the  East  India  Company  requires 
it,  for  it  is  just  the  place  for  a  coal  station — but  nothing  more. 
It  is  the  Gibraltar  of  Arabia,  but  its  fortifications  are  not  com- 
manding. The  harbor  forts  would  shake  to  pieces  by  the 
discharge  of  their  own  guns,  but  the  Turkish  wall  is  more  res- 
pectable. 

I  was  surprised  to  find  some  20,000  natives  here,  but  Euro- 
peans are  not  numerous.  One  wing  of  a  European  regiment — 
a  regiment  of  Sepoys,  from  India,  say  about  two  thousand  troops 
— the  Honorable  Company  are  obliged  to  keep  here  to  hold  the 
place  against  the  repeated  attacks  of  the  hordes  of  ruffians  on 
the  other  coast,  who,  following  out  the  motto  of  the  Honorable 
Company,  that  "  might  makes  right,"  are  desirous  of  retaking 
the  domain. 

The  rock,  the  plain,  and  the  whole  shore,  look  barren 
enough  ;  nor  bird,  nor  beast,  nor  plant,  nor  creeping  thing — 


SITUATION    OF    ADEN.  265 


you  might  almost  say,  without  misrepresenting,  nothing  of  note 
— can  be  seen  from  our  anchorage  or  from  the  fort  and  village 
on  the  beach.  You  must  have  a  donkey  or  an  Arab  horse  the 
moment  you  get  ashore,  and  take  a  ride  along  the  beach,  through 
the  thatched  village,  past  the  mass  of  granite  rock,  over  the 
long  military  road,  down  under  the  bridge,  through  the  deep 
dark  passage-way  cut  out  of  the  solid  rock,  to  the  cantonments, 
or  barracks,  in  the  valley  beneath,  where  you  will  find  the 
native  town,  the  Sepoy  barracks,  the  European  settlements, 
the  chapel  on  the  hill  for  the  Episcopalians,  and  the  cathedral 
below,  for  the  Roman  Catholics,  the  drill  ground,  and  all  that 
there  is  to  note  at  Aden.  On  every  side  of  you  nothing  but 
rock,  rock,  rock.  It  would  be  banishment  to  live  here.  The 
Company  have  spent  plenty  of  money  in  fortifying,  but  the 
money  has  not  been  well  invested,  say  some  of  our  military  pas- 
sengers. A  party  of  fellows  passed  a  few  hours  at  the  hotel 
most  pleasantly,  with  supper,  with  sentiment,  and  with  song. 
The  place  was  christened,  and  will  keep  till  we  see  it  again.  I 
am  astonished  to  see  how  poorly  fortified  are  many  of  the  ports 
of  England's  colonies. 

I  am  not  well  up  in  such  tactics,  and  never  studied  Yauban, 
but  it  would  appear  to  me,  that  had  the  Russian  China  fleet 
been  willing  to  run  the  risk  of  British  cruisers,  they  might 
have  bombarded  Singapore,  Penang,  Madras,  and  Aden,  but 
the  destruction  of  property  would  have  been  the  only  inducement, 
for  they  could  not  have  held  the  places  for  any  length  of  time, 
for  the  Oriental  steamers  can  transport  troops  post  haste  to  pro- 
tect the  flag  of  England.  But  there  is  one  thing  pretty  certain  ; 
India  can  spare  no  troops  for  the  Crimea.  She  wants  them  all 
within  her  empire,  for  the  natives  are  always  plotting. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 


STEAMING  IN  THE  RED  SEA,  OFF  SUEZ, 
ON  BOARD  THE  STEAMSHIP  NUBIA. 


f 

Monday  April   1,  1856. 

Landing  Place  of  the  Israelites — Europeans  going  Home — Manners  of 
some  Indian  Residents — Etiquette  of  Eastern  Officials — What  they 
Think  of  the  United  States— Hints  to  Travelers. 

WE  steamed  out  of  Aden  on  the  27th  inst.,  and  two  hours 
later  we  shall  anchor  a  little  below  where  the  Israelites  crossed 
the  Red  Sea  (probably  at  low  tide).  Our  voyage  from  India 
has  been  most  pleasant,  as  well  as  rapid — only  twenty-two  days 
from  Calcutta  to  Suez,  a  distance  of  4,157  miles.  The  Nubia 
is  one  of  the  most  magnificent  of  the  splendid  fleet  belonging  to 
the  Oriental  Company  ;  is  some  330  feet  in  length,  and  2,200 
tons  register,  and  accommodates  about  one  hundred  and  thirty 
passengers.  Starting  from  the  Hoogly  with  a  goodly  number, 
we  have  added  to  it  at  Madras,  Galle  and  Aden  till  we  have  a 
full  complement,  among  which  are  thirty-four  children  under 
ten  years  of  age,  which  number  includes  eight  babes.  The  sea- 
son is  nearly  over,  and  those  who  have  the  means  and  can  get 
permission  from  the  Honorable  Company  are  flocking  home  ; 
but  the  next  steamers,  from  May  to  August,  will  be  less  crowd- 
ed, for  the  hot  season  is  not  the  time  for  crossing  the  Desert 
or  the  Indian  ocean.  It  has  afforded  me  no  little  amusement 
to  note  the  cliqueish  manners  of  the  East  Indians.  Although 


EUROPEANS    GOING    HOME.  2G7 


now  some  three  weeks  together,  the  dignity  of  office  and  the 
responsibility  of  position  have  not  entirely  melted  the  ice.  Hos- 
pitality and  good  nature  die  for  want  of  nourishment,  and 
sociality  is  stifled  by  affectation.  The  hereditary  castes  that 
are  so  religiously  observed  by  the  Hindoo  natives  are  not  more 
marked  than  the  pointed  exclusiveness  of  our  Calcutta  passen- 
gers— each  looks  upon  the  other  with  feelings  far  from  friendly. 
Education  or  refinement  seems  to  have  little  to  do  with  the  bar- 
riers of  society — money — salaries — pay — is  what  is  most  thought 
of.  "  How  long  has  he  been  out — and  what  does  he  receive 
per  month  ?  Is  he  a  collector  or  a  '  sudder  judge  ? '  Does  he 
belong  to  the  civil  or  the  military  service  and  has  he  influence 
at  court  ?  "  are  among  the  queries  when  the  new  comer  makes 
his  appearance. 

All  classes  are  represented  on  board  our  ship,  from  a  collect- 
or, to  the  consort  of  a  member  of  the  Council ;  from  a  lieuten- 
ant in  the  Indian  army  to  a  commander-in-chief.  Some  are 
going  home  on  sick  leave,  others  on  a  three  years'  vacation, 
while  one  or  two  have  been  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  the  ser- 
vice, and  retire  with  a  life  pension  of  $5,000,  half  of  which  they 
have  paid  from  year  to  year,  to  make  up  the  fund.  There  are 
others  who  have  been  out  as  long,  but  are  not  as  fortunate  ; 
their  names  do  not  head  the  list,  and  they  must  wait  for  their 
tune  to  come.  Some  of  our  passengers  are  gentlemen,  others 
snobs  ;  many  of  them  invite  our  acquaintance,  others  are  fear- 
ful that  their  dignity  will  be  ruffled  by  being  courteous  to  those 
whose  pay  is  less.  The  member  of  Council,  who  gets  $40,000 
per  annum,  is  not  in  the  same  set  as  the  commissioner,  who 
receives  but  $18,000  ;  and  the  Bengal  civilian  considers  his 
position  a  peg  or  two  higher  than  the  Madras — while  the  Cal- 
cutta potentate  speaks  patronizingly  of  his  counterpart  in  the 


•4 

• 

WHAT   THEY   THINK    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 


Mofussal.  All  the  divisions  of  Indian  society  stand  boldly  out 
on  shipboard,  and  intrepid  is  the  man  who  can  remove  the  chill 
that  freezes  the  little  courtesies  of  life.  Restraint  hangs  over 
the  breakfast  table,  and  formality  barricades  the  jovial  laugh 
and  the  pleasant  conversation  at  dinner  ;  gossip,  intrigue  and 
ill  natured  remarks  follow  you  through  the  cabin  to  the  deck. 
If  you  wish  to  be  quiet,  you  are  thought  eccentric  ;  if  you  sing 
too  loud  or  converse  above  a  whisper,  you  are  considered  a  fit 
candidate  for  a  lunatic  asylum  ;  a  hearty  laugh  is  unpardonable, 
and  as  for  a  dance,  a  tableau,  a  charade,  it  would  be  out  of  the 
question.  All  the  Company's  servants  believe  in  the  infallibility 
of  the  Company  ;  an  excuse  is  found  for  everything  the  Honor- 
able Company  may  do.  American  slavery  is  horrible,  but  the 
Indian  ryot  system  is  a  blessing  to  the  native.  Annexation  in 
America  is  robbery  ;  in  India,  friendship  and  protection.  The 
Court  of  Directors  may  do  what  they  please  ;  the  Governor 
General  proclaims  it,  and  the  servants,  far  and  wide,  say  amen. 
Many  are  the  arguments  which  I  have  had  with  my  fellow  pas- 
sengers on  the  recent  annexation  of  Oude.  A  king  whose 
immoralities  were  not  more  marked  among  the  Indians  than 
were  Charles  the  Second's  or  George  the  Fourth's  among  the 
English,  is  somewhat  surprised  one  fine  morning  by  finding  sev- 
eral armed  regiments  in  his  palace  garden.  He  asks  for  an 
explanation  of  such  an  outrage,  and  is  told  in  reply  that  he 
spends  too  much  of  his  time  in  his  harem — that  the  revenue  has 
fallen  off — that  women  hold  the  seals  of  office,  and  that  his 
ministers  are  bad  men — that  he  maltreats  and  grinds  down  his 
subjects — and  that  in  consequence  of  all  these  disreputable  acts, 
the  Honorable  Company,  alias  the  British  government,  actuated 
by  purely  philanthropic  motives,  have  decided  to  govern  his 
empire  and  annex  his  kingdom  to  the  British  possessions.  Re- 


THE    GOVERNOR   GENERAL    OF    INDIA. 

• 


sistance  makes  the  Rajah  a  State  prisoner,  submission  secures  him 
a  pension,  and  the  stroke  of  a  pen,  the  arrival  of  a  despatch, 
the  flash  of  the  telegraph,  and  the  simple  "  stand  and  deliver  " 
of  the  army,  intimidates  the  king,  and  millions  of  acres  of  fertile 
land,  millions  of  population,  and  millions  of  pounds  sterling  are 
added  to  the  wealth  of  the  British  empire.  Oude  was  a  dia- 
mond of  the  first  water,  and  the  company  not  deriving  the  sum 
they  expected  from  the  increase  of  the  opium  culture,  coveted 
it  and  seized  it,  and  Lord  Dalhousie  (who,  by  the  way,  landed 
at  Suez  day  before  yesterday),  is  homeward  bound,  to  give  an 
account  of  his  stewardship.  The  directors  will  give  him  a  din- 
ner and  a  service  of  plate,  the  Queen  will  entertain  him,  and  he 
will  receive  the  personal  thanks  of  the  British  Cabinet  ;  but 
Parliamentary  opposition  will  ask  him,  through  the  treasury 
benches,  a  few  questions  which  will  open  a  debate,  and  that 
debate  may  prove  an  unfortunate  one  for  the  late  Governor 
General.  Three  quarters  of  a  century  have  disappeared  since 
"Warren  Hastings'  day,  and  the  British  politicians  are  irritated 
because  disappointed  about  the  war.  England  may  march  an 
army  into  the  parks  and  domains  of  an  Indian  king,  and  take 
them,  but  Russia  has  no  right  to  follow  her  example  in  sending 
a  few  regiments  into  the  provinces  of  the  Sultan,  and  America 
has  no  right  to  add  Cuba  to  the  States.  Oude  is  only  another 
chapter  in  the  history  of  India,  and  my  fellow  passengers  consider 
it  the  most  brilliant  in  the  book, 

Formerly  the  Indian  servants  made  the  voyage  out  round  the 
Cape,  where  they  left  their  conscience  ;  but,  strange  to  tell,  says 
the  old  saying,  they  forgot  to  take  it  up  again  on  their  return. 
Now  the  overland  route  has  changed  the  custom,  and  you  must 
take  passage  in  the  P.  and  O.  to  get  a  taste  of  official  life  in 
Calcutta.  You  can  but  meet  many  very  pleasant  people  ;  but 


270  HINTS    TO   TRAVELERS. 


you  also  are  brought  in  contact  with  those  who  assume  what 
they  do  not  possess,  and  you  feel  disgusted  with  the  envy  and 
jealousy  of  civil  servants,  who  sneer  at  the  officials  in  the  army, 
whose  remuneration  is  less — moustached  collectors — dubbed 
curchary  huzzars,  by  Lord  Ellenborough,  whose  sarcastic  remarks 
and  independent  despatches  were  the  reasons  of  his  recall — 
snobs  whose  manners  are  their  advertisement.  But  I  have  said 
enough  of  my  compagnions  de  voyage,  and  now  will  unsay  all 
that  may  seem  harsh,  for  I  remember  many  of  the  Nubia's  party 
whom  I  hope  to  meet  again.  Our  officers  were  most  obliging  ; 
our  captain  a  good  sailor,  without  a  cabin  polish  ;  our  table 
from  the  first  respectable,  and  our  cabins  rather  small  for  four. 
If  you  take  the  India  mail,  buy  a  chair,  or  else  you  go  with- 
out— 'tis  the  custom.  Each  passenger  at  Calcutta  brought  on 
board  his  private  seat  for  the  deck.  In  China  the  traveler 
takes  beds,  linen,  and  washbowls,  but  chairs  are  furnished  by 
the  ship.  Five  companies,  of  five  vans  each,  compose  our  party. 
Each  carriage  takes  six.  Every  five  or  six  hours  a  company 
starts,  in  order  to  give  the  leading  horses  a  resting  spell.  Yes- 
terday lots  were  drawn  for  choice  of  numbers,  and  I  am  among 
the  fortunates  who  go  in  number  one.  Those  who  get  the  last 
batch  will  be  detained  almost  a  day,  and  will  have  no  time  at 
Cairo.  I  don't  like  the  navigation  of  the  Red  Sea  for  sailing 
ships,  but  it  answers  for  steamers. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

LANDED  IN  EGYPT. 

CAIRO,  EGYPT,  April  2,  1856,      ) 
AT  SHEPHERD'S  HOTEL.       .   ) 

City  of  Suez — Its  Population — Hotels  and  Trade — What  it  Was  and 
What  it  Is — Travel  to  Cairo— Camels,  Caravans  and  Pilgrims — A 
Glimpse  of  the  Pyramids. 

WERE  It  not  for  the  Indian  mails  the  name  of  Suez  would  never 
be  mentioned,  except  by  the  Oriental  tourist,  who,  in  his  enthu- 
siasm, journeys  across  the  desert  to  Palestine,  so  that  he  may  see 
where  tradition  has  traced  the  track  of  Israel — where  Pharaoh 
lost  his  army.  Even  with  the  immense  traffic  introduced  by  the 
Peninsular  and  Oriental  Company,  Suez  is  still  dead  to  modern 
life — a  miserable  hotel,  a  branch  of  this,  a  chapel,  a  dilapidated 
ruin  for  a  town  numbering  some  5,000  in  its  population  of  the 
lower  class  of  Arabs,  and  a  few  ancient  and  modern  recollections, 
are  all  that  give  it  notice.  The  slave  trade  is  abolished,  and 
the  monopoly  of  trade  with  Jeddo,  formerly  in  the  hands  of  the 
Levantine  merchants,  is  also  broken  up.  There  are  some  fifty 
foreigners  resident,  nine  of  which  are  English,  the  others  being 
French  and  Maltese.  The  port  boasts  an  English  Consul.  I 
pity  him. 

The  overland  route  was  opened  in  1840,  by  Lieut.  Waghorn, 
after  which  Hill  &  Co.  took  it  up ;  then  the  Eastern  Transit 
Company,  in  1843.  But  two  years  later  the  Pasha  went  into 


272  WHAT   IT    WAS    AND    WHAT    IT   IS. 


the  carrying  trade,  and  the  Egyptian  government  has  since  con- 
descended, for  a  handsome  consideration,  to  act  as  servants  to 
the  English  Steam  Company,  in  taking  their  passengers  aud 
freight  across  the  desert. 

This,  of  course,  has  given  Suez  what  little  notice  it  enjoys. 
Some  sixty  years  ago  Napoleon  encamped  here,  and  his  head- 
quarters show  how  poor  were  his  Egyptian  accommodations.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  Suez  was  the  town  that  became  very 
nearly  being  the  grave  of  Mehemet  Ali.  The  Mamelukes  had 
planned  his  assassination  well,  but  the  secret  leaked  out,  aud  in 
the  night  time  the  great  general  escaped  on  a  swift  dromedary, 
and  lived  to  return  the  Mamelukes'  treachery  in  the  citadel,  but 
more  successfully.  The  Transit  Company  haye  some  fifty  vans, 
as  they  are  called — two  wheeled  carriages — a  kind  of  Black 
Maria — intended  for  six  inside  passengers — uncomfortable  and 
inconvenient — each  drawn  by  four  horses.  The  vans  are  made 
in  Egypt :  no  English  manufacturer  would  own  such  traps.  The 
company  also  have  some  600  Arab  and  Syrian  horses,  and  two 
hundred  mules  ;  but  the  500  or  600  camels  required  to  trans- 
mit the  inland  and  outward  freight  and  luggage  belong  to  the 
Sheiks. 

The  distance  from  Suez  to  Cairo  is  eighty-four  miles,  com- 
posed of  sixteen  stages,  of  five  miles  each.  We  changed  fifteen 
times,  and  four  meals  were  furnished  for  the  trip,  but  such  meals 
as  would  disgrace  a  Five  Points  restaurant — camel  stew,  and  a 
desert  chicken,  and  coffee  that  gives  you  the  nausea  before  you 
taste  it.  The  Pasha,  I  am  confident,  has  ordered  the  best,  and 
most  likely  the  fault  is  with  the  subs.  I  observe  that  most  of 
the  vans  have  mules  in  the  shafts  and  horses  on  the  lead  ;  that 
both  mules  and  horses  are  shod  with  a  round  shoe,  leaving 
only  an  open  air  hole  in  the  centre  ;  that  they  are  tied  by  the 


TRAVEL   TO    CAIRO.  273 


feet  to  a  long  rope  in  front  of  the  stables,  which  are  comforta- 
ble buildings ;  that  the  wheels  of  the  vehicles  are  far  apart,  and 
that  a  semophoric  telegraph  post  is  at  each  station.  But  along 
the  whole  range  of  desert  is  naught  but  a  dry  yellow  sand  and 
gravel,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach.  Part  of  the  road  is  maca- 
damized, but  most  of  it  is  open  and  exposed.  If  the  overland 
journey  is  so  tedious  and  void  of  comfort  in  carriages,  what  must 
it  have  been  when  you  had  to  cross  on  camels  ?  It  is  a  dreary, 
desolate  journey.  Not  a  single  tree — yes,  there  was  one,  a 
miserable  scrub,  and  now  and  then  a  bush  or  a  thistle  ;  but 
nothing  green — nothing  instinct  with  life — not  even  rocks,  to 
vary  the  scene — naught  but  an  everlasting  sea  of  sand— sand 
on  every  side — mountains  of  it  in  the  distance  ;  but  plains  near 
at  hand,  for  our  track — it  can't  be  called  road — lies  directly 
through  the  valley.  The  artistic  painting  of  the  "  Dying  Camel" 
who  was  it  by  ?  frequently  came  up  before  me  as  I  saw  the 
decaying  carcasses  of  the  faithful  quadrupeds  scattered  along  the 
desert,  in  all  stages  of  decay  ;  but  the  hoarse  voiced  desert  birds 
are  ever  shrieking  near,  keeping  discordant  time  with  the  jack- 
all's  quick,  sharp,  yell,  and  when  life  has  departed,  they  com- 
mence their  solitary  meal,  gluttonizing  in  their  greediness  till 
satiety  makes  them  disgorge,  only  to' gluttonize  again.  The 
shrill  wail  of  those  carrion  birds  and  the  fierce,  whistling,  ghost- 
like noise  of  the  desert  wind  is  the  morning  and  evening  music 
of  the  Arab,  seemingly  an  eternal  requiem.  To  him,  it  cheers 
his  lonely  journey,  to  me  it  sounded  as  from  a  sepulchre. 

I  have  spoken  disparagingly  of  the  mode  of  transit  and  our 
hotel  accomodations  ;  but,  to  reflect,  what  must  they  have  been 
only  thirty  years  ago  ?  Before  the  English  government  and 
English  money  and  English  enterprise  taught  the  Pasha  some  of 
the  comforts  of  civilized  life,  hotels  in  an  inhospitable  desert, 


2T4  CARAVANS   AND   PILGRIMS. 


oases  planted  by  the  Western  Company  in  the  heart  of  desola- 
tion. Before,  no  water,  no  resting  place,  no  shelter,  no  nourish- 
ment save  what  you  carried,  no  human  being,  save  the  acci- 
dental meeting  of  the  camel  driver  or  the  muleteer,  to  relieve 
you  in  distress,  and  no  prospect  of  reaching  your  journey's  end 
for  days  and  weeks,  instead  of  hours,  as  now.  Verily  the 
change  is  worthy  of  contemplation.  The  Cape  route  was  a  long 
journey,  the  camel's  motion  was  too  slow  when  the  shorter  one 
across  the  desert  was  first  established.  England  saw  her  Indian 
empire  ;  Indian  servants  wanted  more  comfort  and  despatch, 
and  England  said  to  Egypt,  "  Let  there  be  better  arrangements 
made,"  and  they  were  made.  But  the  wedge  only  was  intro- 
duced ;  a  telegraphic  wire  has  been  ordered,  a  railroad  is  under 
way,  and  shortly  the  whistling  of  a  Western  locomotive  will 
startle  the  Bedouin  from  his  sleep  on  his  sandy  pillow,  and  the 
rattling  of  a  railway  train  across  the  bleached  skeletons  of  the 
ass,  the  mule  and  the  camel  will  prove  the  sweetest  of  all  sounds 
to  those  poor  beasts  of  burden,  whose  labors  have  been  so 
greatly  lessened  by  the  genius  and  the  ingenuity  of  civilized 
man. 

Towards  the  close  of  our  journey  several  caravans  of  Arabs 
and  natives  passed  us,  their  camels  loaded  with  every  possible 
kind  of  package.  At  Aden  I  saw  a  ship  loaded  down  like  a 
North  Atlantic  emigrant  packet,  with  pilgrims  bound  to  Mecca, 
but  there  were  none  at  Suez.  The  caravans  in  our  track  were 
mostly  for  the  purposes  of  commerce.  For  miles  before  we 
reached  the  last  station  we  saw  what  we  supposed  a  lake  of  dark 
blue  water,  shaded  by  trees,  which  were  reflected  from  below, 
but  the  distance  did  not  lessen — the  deception  was  perfect.  No 
wonder  that  Napoleon's  army  began  to  show  signs  of  mutiny 

and  insubordination,  for  hopes  raised  to  be  thwarted  maketh 

' 


275 


the  heart  sick.  It  is  a  remarkable  sight  to  witness  the  action 
of  the  sun's  rays  upon  a  sea  of  sand  ;  the  panoramic  magic  of 
the  lantern  falls  into  pitiful  insignificance  when  compared  to  the 
mirage  of  the  Egyptian  desert. 

Thirteen  stages  had  ended,  when  a  shout  from  the  leading 
carriage  announced  the  appearance  of  Cairo  in  the  distance,  and 
another  shout  as  we  turned  the  bend  discovered  to  us  at  the 
left  of  the  city  the  wonder  of  the  world — the  pyramids  of  Egypt. 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

CAIRO,  EGYPT,  April  3,  1856,  ) 
AT  SHEPHERD'S  HOTEL.      ) 

A  Cairo  Hotel  and  its  Charges — A  Ramble  through  the  City — Royal 
Tragedies — How  to  Look  at  Alexandria — Europeans  in  the  City — 
Entry  to  the  Seraglio. 

SHEPHERD'S  Hotel.  I  believe,  is  the  only  decent  one  in  Cairo 
— where  you  have  to  pay  New  York  prices  for  Oregon  comforts. 
The  proprietor  has  been  catering  for  the  traveling  public  some 
fifteen  years,  but  his  ideas  of  living  do  not  seem  to  profit  by  the 
experience. 

The  house  was  crowded — many  of  our  Indian  passengers  who 
were  in  the  last  carriage  have  been  shut  out,  and  had  to  make 
the  most  of  the  Oriental,  where  they  sleep,  and  pay  for  food — 
which  they  come  over  and  take  with  us.  After  getting  once 
over  the  desert  they  object  to  being  starved  in  a  populous  city. 
Lord  Dalhousie  and  Lady  Susan  Ramsay  got  in  before  us  ;  and 
as  the  Governor  General  is  the  guest  of  Said  Pasha  while  pas- 
sing through  Egypt,  his  Excellency  engaged  eight  rooms  for  him 
at  Shepherd's,  and  the  state  carriage,  with  pompons  escort, 
awaits  the  orders  of  the  late  head  of  the  Indian  empire. 

On  reference  to  the  register,  I  find  the  flags  of  the  respective 
boats  up  the  Nile  this  season.  Americans,  German,  English 
and  French  have  made  up  their  parties,  and  have  noted  down 
their  tours — either  to  the  first  or  second  cataract.  The  boat's 


A   RAMBLE    THROUGH   THE    CITY.  271 


flag,  as  well  as  the  national  one,  is  usually  painted  in  the  book 
over  the  names  of  the  party,  for  the  benefit  of  their  friends.  I 
am  told  that  there  are  more  Americans  up  the  Nile  this  season 
than  any  other  nation.  Yesterday  I  tramped  through  the  city, 
our  dragoman  taking  us  into  cathedrals  and  mosques,  through 
narrow  paths,  for  there  are  no  streets  in  the  East,  into  dirty 
bazaars,  and  down  deep  into  the  wretchedness  of  Oriental  life. 
Several  times  we  passed  funerals  and  marriages,  both  of  which 
are  clownish,  laughable,  absurd,  music  that  hath  no  sweetness, 
wedding  garments  as  unclean  as  those  who  wear  them,  long 
processions,  all  mean  and  meaningless.  Really,  an  Egyptian 
marriage  appears  the  very  acme  of  all  shams,  and  the  funeral  is 
no  better  ;  while  the  circumcising  the  children  seems  the  most 
ridiculous  of  alL  I  saw  one  boy  perched  upon  an  Arab  horse, 
done  up  in  tinselled  robes,  with  crown  and  bells,  followed  by 
a  train  of  about  fifty  of  his  circumcised  and  circumcising  friends 
and  family.  No  romances  would  ever  be  written  in  Egypt 
after  the  writers  had  lived  a  short  time  in  its  capital.  The 
Orient  sounds  magnificently,  it  is  a  mellifluous  word,  done  up  in 
imaginative  grandeur,  but  one  day  will  answer  for  Cairo. 

Some  of  the  mosques  must  have  cost  millions  of  money  ;  that 
known  as  the  Citadel,  or  the  tomb  of  Mehemet  Ali,  is  consid- 
ered the  grandest  in  the  East ;  it  is  in  reality  a  wonderful  struc- 
ture, built  of  marble,  granite,  and  freestone,  and  much  of  its 
ornamental  marble  work  has  been  imported  from  France.  Be- 
fore entering  we  had  to  take  off  our  boots,  and  encase  our  feet 
in  slippers,  in  accordance  with  Eastern  etiquette.  The  same 
egotism  that  stimulated  the  early  Egyptians,  thousands  of  years 
ago,  to  mark  the  burial  places  of  their  kings  by  tombstones 
more  wonderful  that  anything  in  history,  has  been  handed  down 
through  so  many  generations  to  the  sons  of  the  founder  of  the 


278  MASSACRE    OF  THE   MAMELUKES. 


present  dynasty,  as  may  be  evinced  by  the  tomb  of  Mebemet 
All.  Just  in  the  rear  of  this  costly  temple  you  are  shown  the 
tomb  of  the  Mamelukes,  to  whom  this  same  monarch  proved 
himself  the  king  of  modern  assassins.  The  story  is  an  old  one. 
The  king  and  the  Mamelukes  were  deadly  enemies,  each  trying  to 
extinguish  the  other.  At  last  an  armistice  and  a  treaty  were 
concluded.  Mehemet's  son  was  about  to  leave  the  capital,  and 
a  splendid  banquet  was  given  by  the  father  on  the  1st  March, 
1811,  as  a  token  of  good  will  to  the  Mamelukes.  The  flower 
of  their  order  were  present.  The  banquet  over,  they  mounted 
their  beautiful  horses,  the  best  Arabs  in  the  land,  to  take  their 
departure,  having  pledged  their  last  pipe  of  friendship,  but  the 
gates  were  closed,  and  quietly  and  mysteriously  their  entertain- 
ers had  left  the  banquet.  Treachery  flashed  across  their  mind, 
and  yet  they  could  hardly  credit  it ;  then  came  a  burst  of  mus- 
ketry, thinning  out  their  ranks  ;  at  once  they  saw  the  deep  laid 
trap  :  the  Egyptian  chief  had  stooped  to  become  an  assassin, 
his  excuse  that  of  the  modern  Napoleon  for  the  coup  d'  etat — 
"  Had  I  not  been  first,  they  would  have  murdered  me."  What 
could  the  Mamelukes  do  ?  Their  bravery  was  of  no  account ; 
their  enemy  was  behind  stone  walls,  pouring  down  a  continual 
jhower  of  bullets.  Out  of  some  five  hundred  of  the  bravest  of 
the  brave — soldiers  who  won  the  admiration  of  Napoleon,  only 
one  escaped.  Ibrahim  Bey,  the  chief,  and  his  faithful  band, 
lay  weltering  in  a  pond  of  blood.  The  same  slaughter  was  going 
on  outside,  wherever  a  Mameluke  could  be  found.  Some  twelve 
hundred  or  more  were  slain,  which  broke  the  power  of  that 
brave  order  forever.  One  only  was  saved  of  those  who  attend- 
ed the  banquet.  Emin  Bey,  seeing  death  awaited  him  in  the 
citadel,  plunged  off  the  precipice,  a  fearful  leap.  Putnam's  death 
ride  down  the  church  steps  was  wonderful,  but  the  Mameluke's 


HOW   TO   LOOK   AT   ALEXANDRIA.  279 


bound  stands  first  among  bold  deeds.  His  horse  was  killed, 
but  the  soldier  escaped  without  injury.  In  the  afternoon  I  visi- 
ted some  of  the  Pasha's  palaces,  some  of  which  are  chastely 
furnished  ;  but  you  must  cross  the  threshold  before  you  can  ad- 
mire, for  outwardly  they  are  shabby  enough,  like  a  beautiful 
inmate  of  the  harem  clothed  in  the  tattered,  filthy  garments  of 
Egypt.  I  shall  hurry  over  Alexandria,  and  hasten  out  of  Egypt, 
for  I  am  sick  of  the  nauseating  filth  that  meets  you  at  every 
turn.  Slaves  of  hereditary  customs  and  ancient  prejudices,  mar- 
rying the  moment  they  arrive  at  the  age  of  puberty,  acknowl- 
edging polygamy  and  possessing  such  unprecedented  facilities 
for  divorce,  knowing  no  such  word  as  independence,  bowing  and 
prostrating  themselves  under  the  bastinado,  the  women  hiding 
their  sore-eyed  ugliness  under  the  same  kind  of  veil  as  that 
worn  by  Rebecca,  and  the  men  still  wearing  the  garments 
of  many  colors,  like  that  which  Joseph  wore  ;  without  the  ex- 
traordinary industry  of  the  Chinese,  the  bravery  of  the  Malay  ; 
the  grace,  the  beauty  and  ingenuity  of  the  native  of  Hindostan  ; 
void  of  all  manliness  or  nobility  of  purpose,  wallowing  in  their 
sloth  and  their  debasing  sensuality,  under  the  decimating  scourge 
of  the  conscription,  ground  down  by  relentless,  agonizing  tyran- 
ny, the  Egyptians  of  to-day,  unworthy  of  their  ancestral  honors, 
live  on,  regardless  of  others  fate  or  of  their  own — without  the 
vital  spark  of  active  labor,  of  religious  freedom  or  of  civil  lib- 
erty. Plague,  pestilence  and  famine  may  consume  them,  war 
and  revolution  destroy  their  habitations,  without  stimulating 
them  to  more  energetic  or  more  ambitious  measures.  Standing 
on  a  precipice,  stooping  to  the  bowstring,  with  death  staring 
them  in  the  face,  the  everlasting  AUah  kerim  (God  great)  of 
the  Arab  is  all  the  consolation  he  requires. 


280  POMPEY'S  PILLAK — CLEOPATRA'S  NEEDLE. 


To-day  and  to-morrow  I  shall  hasten  over  Alexandria,  for 
afterwards  I  am  booked  for  Jerusalem. 

Murray  appears  to  be  the  Bradshaw  of  Egypt,  as  well  as  of 
Europe  and  Asia  Minor.  Take  Murray  with  you,  and  your 
dragoman,  and  if  you  are  industrious,  and  not  too  sentimental, 
you  may  do  up  Alexandria  in  a  day.  Pompey's  pillar,  Cleo- 
patra's needle — there  is  but  one  remaining,  and  the  catacombs  ; 
these  three  are  the  living  links  that  bind  one  with  the  dead. 
Then*  immensity,  their  grandeur,  their  proud  antiquity  make 
them  the  signal  stations  between  the  era  of  the  pyramids  and  our 
own  time.  The  two  thousand  years  have  again  come  round- — 
the  age  that  has  twice  given  birth  to  the  mastodonic  beacons 
that  distinguished  the  two  great  eras  that  have  lived  and  died  ; 
but  what  is  there  now  to  mark  the  third  ?  Two  thousand  years 
hence  the  children  of  Egypt  will  expect  some  towering  monu- 
ment to  mark  the  third  great  epoch  of  their  country's  history. 
What  shall  be  the  memory  that  binds  the  present  period  with 
the  Pillar  and  the  Needle,  to  the  Pyramids  and  the  Sphinx  ?  Shall 
it  not  be  the  railway,  the  steamboat,  the  telegraph,  bringing 
about  the  moral  and  the  physical  change  that  everywhere  fol- 
lows the  footsteps  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  ?  No  better  fame 
can  rest  upon  the  Pasha's  reign  ;  no  fitter  mantle  can  fall 
upon  the  tombstone  of  the  present  dynasty  than  the  intro- 
duction of  the  arts  and  sciences  of  civilized  man.  But  I  fear 
that  Said  Pasha  has  not  the  ability  nor  the  nerve  to  make  the 
moral  change,  unless  spurred  on  by  the  energy  of  the  American, 
the  capital  of  England,  or  the  sword  of  France.  Inheriting  all 
the  tyranny  and  despotism  of  his  father,  without  any  of  his  mili- 
tary genius  ;  wishing  to  be  thought  a  great  military  tactician, 
but  possessing  neither  brains  nor  bravery  for  the  science  of  war  ; 
spreading  gloom  and  misery,  and  discontent  throughout  every 


EUROPEANS    IN   THE    CITY.  281 


mud  cabin  in  his  kingdom,  even  carrying  the  harassing  torture 
of  the  conscription  into  the  Soudan,  where  his  possessions  are 
six  times  the  size  of  France,  that  he  may  raise  the  army  from 
8,000  to  40,000  men  ;  speaking  English  and  French,  and  keep- 
ing throughly  posted  in  the  political  changes  of  Europe  ;  jealous 
of  the  Consuls  who  rule  him  with  a  rod  of  iron  ;  cunningly 
trying  to  strengthen  his  position  by  pitting  France  against  the 
encroaching  power  of  England,  and  America  against  them  both  ; 
professing  peace  to  all  mankind  and  friendship  for  the  Sultan  of 
Stamboul,  yet  all  the  while  increasing,  drilling  and  equipping  a 
powerful  army,  Said  Pacha  continues  to  baffle  those  about  him 
with  an  ingenuity  and  success  worthy  of  a  better  reputation  than 
he  enjoys,  managing  always  to  bury  his  future  plans  iu  an  im- 
penetrable mystery — remembering  how  insinuatingly  Nicholas 
flung  Egypt  at  the  head  of  Aberdeen,  and  how  disgusted 
Mehemet  AH  was  with  the  interference  of  England,  France,  and 
Russia  in  1827,  when  those  three  Powers  in  the  battle  of  Nava- 
rino  stopped  the  former  king  from  riding  over  Greece  and  walk- 
ing into  Constantinople — who  knows  that  the  present  sovereign 
may  not  "loose  his  empire  by  foolishly  following  his  father's  fruit- 
less schemes. 

Who  would  have  thought  of  finding  twenty  thousand  Euro- 
peans, one-fifth  of  the  population,  in  this  fine  old  "  Macedonian 
clocked  shaped  Alexandria,"  while  at  Cairo,  with  a  population 
of  350,000,  there  are  but  five  thousand  foreigners?  I  am 
agreeably  surprised  to  find  this  ancient  school  of  arts  and  sciences, 
the  great  entrepot  of  Eastern  commerce — flooded  with  Grecian 
merchants  before  it  became  Egyptianized,  so  animated  with 
modern  life.  Alexandria  with  its  wonderful  manuscript  library 
of  a  million  volumes,  any  one  of  which,  had  it  been  saved  from 
the  burning  pile,  or  the  ruthless  destruction  of  the  plundering 


282  ALEXANDRIA ITS   INTERESTING    ASSOCIATIONS. 


Arabs,  might  have  told  us  the  whole  history  of  the  pyramids, 
and  saved  distinguished  antiquaries  and  savans  much  useless 
labor  in  floundering  over  hieroglyphics  that  have  baffled  them, 
and  will  continue  so  to  do  for  centuries,  no  matter  how  learned 
some  of  their  decipherings  may  appear — with  its  famous  Ptole- 
mic  museum  and  its  remarkable  structures,  one  of  which  is  bent 
with  age  and  ill  usage,  while  the  other  is  still  apparently  as  fresh 
as  when  erected,  the  delicate  playthings  of  the  voluptuous  Cleo- 
patra, the  wondrous  piece  of  spiral  granite,  how  raised  no  man 
can  tell — giving  Pompey  the  credit  which  belongs  to  Diocletian  ; 
Alexandria  with  its  gigantic  tombs,  where  kings  and  emperors, 
conquered  and  conquering,  slept  their  long  sleep,  while  the 
storm  and  tempest  of  war  throughout  their  wide  possessions, 
sweeping  like  a  whirlwind  over  the  land,  met  the  storm  and 
tempest  of  the  great  Levantine  Sea,  that  washed  the  grave- 
stones of  the  princely  dead,  composing  an  eternal  requiem  amidst 
the  breakers  and  the  winds,  leaving  an  echo  that  shall  last  the 
life  of  history  !  Alexandria,  with  its  interesting  associations, 
was  among  the  ancient  cities  whose  history  most  impressed  me 
when  at  school.  With  the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire  her  com- 
merce drooped  as  the  choked  canal,  and  the  reduced  population, 
are  willing  to  attest.  One  branch  after  another  was  lopped  off, 
till  Gama's  discovery  made  the  Southern  Cape  the  toll  gate  of 
the  Indian  race.  When  the  proud  relic  of  the  great  Alexander, 
who  conquered  Bucephalus,  before  he  conquered  worlds,  and 
shed  tears  when  there  were  no  more  worlds  to  play  with,  Alex- 
andria, the  seat  of  Christianity,  the  great  outlet  of  Indian  and 
Egyptian  trade  was  only  known  for  its  ancient  renown.  Although 
the  canal  to  Suez  would  shorten  the  route  from  the  Levant  to  In- 
dia some  8,000  miles,  and  would  bring  New  York  3,000  miles 
nearer  to  China  ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  recent  discussion  of 


HARBOR   OF    ALEXANDRIA.  283 


the  enterprise  in  England,  I  doubt  if  the  undertaking  will  ever  be 
accomplished.  The  excavating  and  the  grading  would  not  be 
difficult,  and  as  the  Red  Sea  is  some  thirty  feet  higher  than  the 
Mediterranean,  the  surplus  water  of  the  Nile  would  be  useful  in 
irrigating  the  Desert.  Yet  the  project  would  never  succeed 
without  Western  capital,  and  'tis  not  likely  that  England  will 
furnish  the  means  to  open  a  highway  for  all  nations  to  her  Indian 
possessions.  Besides,  from  what  I  saw  of  the  navigation  of  the 
Red  Sea  in  steaming  through  the  Nubia  I  should  think  it  very 
dangerous  to  sailing  vessels,  and  a  canal  exclusively  for  steam- 
ers would  be  expensive.  Another  thing  :  Two  years  hence  a 
railroad  will  be  completed  between  Cairo  and  Suez,  and  before 
the  canal  could  be  finished,  Stephenson,  if  he  lives,  will  have  the 
"  world's  highway,"  as  he  terms  it,  opened  from  England  to  In- 
dia in  twelve  days,  while  O'Shaughnessy  is  negotiating  for  a 
telegraphic  station  among  the  ruins  of  Nineveh. 

Alexandria,  with  its  harbor  where  Nelson  so  skillfully  worked 
his  fleet  in  spite  of  pilots  or  of  buoys,  before  the  battle  of  the 
Nile,  as  soon  as  a  first  class  railway  is  in  operation  across  the 
Desert,  will  commence  a  new  era  in  her  history.  Commerce 
will  again  flow  into  her  warehouses,  and  she  will  prove  herself 
worthy  of  her  past  glory.  Already  you  see  the  stimulant  which 
the  Indian  traffic  has  given  to  her  trade.  Buildings  are  shoot- 
ing up,  streets  are  being  widened,  real  estate  is  advancing. 
Egyptian  exports  will  be  brought  to  the  seaport  market  ;  the 
cotton  and  the  indigo  which  Mehemet  AH  introduced  will  increase 
if  his  egotistical  successor  does  not  impress  all  the  husbandmen, 
in  his  short  sighted  policy  to  enlarge  his  army.  Imports  and 
exports  will  enliven  exchanges,  and  Alexandria,  like  the  fabled 
bird,  will  rise  again  into  a  flourishing  commercial  city. 

The  hotels  are  overflowing  with  the  outgoing  and  the  incom- 


. 


284  THE    GREEK    CATHEDRAL. 


ing  passengers.  Four  steamers  arrived  yesterday.  The  Nubia's 
passengers  will  have  to  wait  some  days,  for  the  Bombay  mail 
has  not  arrived  at  Suez,  and  the  Marseilles  and  the  Southamp- 
ton boats  can't  move  their  paddles  till  the  Indian  and  China 
passengers  all  concentrate  at  Alexandria.  I  am  at  the  Hotel 
d'Europe.  When  you  come  this  way  I  recommend  it ;  they  will 
treat  you  well.  The  Peninsular  and  Oriental,  and  the  Victoria 
are  also  well  patronized  ;  in  fact,  just  now  everything  is  full. 
There  are  no  American  houses,  and  no  Americans,  save  De  Leou 
of  Carolina,  our  Consul  General  here,  in  Cairo.  He  is  popu- 
lar at  the  Palace,  and  makes  friends  among  the  European  settlers. 
I  wish  all  our  foreign  representatives  were  as  well  appointed. 

The  consecration  of  the  Greek  Cathedral  to-day  was  a  mag- 
nificent exhibition.  The  beautiful  Palace  Church  was  crowded, 
the  hall,  with  Greek  Christians  and  many  strangers,  while  the 
galleries  were  ornamented  with  Grecian  ladies,  whose  fair  forms 
and  graceful  figures  attracted  from  the  foreigners  much  more 
notice  than  the  cumbersome  service  of  consecration.  The  troops 
of  flower  girls,  choirs  of  singing  boys,  dozens  of  gaily  garmented 
priests,  a  church  possessing  much  architectural  beauty,  the  front 
of  which,  near  the  cross,  being  covered  with  paintings  of  Christ 
and  the  Apostles,  were  among  the  chief  attractions  of  the  enter- 
tainment. But  what  was  of  most  interest  were  several  of  the 
spiral  columns  being  pointed  to  me  as  belonging  to  the  old  Alex- 
andrian library.  In  the  rear  of  the  church,  I  saw  where  they 
had  been  excavating.  Already  many  ancient  relics  have  been 
discovered.  I  saw  two  or  three  more  pillars  just  breaking  into 
the  light  of  day  after  a  sleep  of  twenty  centuries,  still  as  perfect 
as  when  they  first  felt  the  chisel.  •' 

The  battle  field  of  Aboukir  is  too  far  from  the  city  for  me  to 
see  the  stone  that  marks  the  grave  of  Abercromby,  but  our 

•UP       •    .. 

•f 


ENTRY   TO    THE    SERAGLIO.  285 


steamer  will,  to  morrow,  pass  within  range  of  Nelson's  victory 
at  the  battle  of  the  Kile,  where  young  Casibianca  perished  in 
the  flames  of  the  flag  ship  rather  than  leave  his  post  before  the 
order  of  the  Admiral,  who  lay  faint  in  death  below.  Mrs. 
Howard,  has  immortalized  the  noble  action  of  the  youthful  offi- 
cer. 

The  city  seraglio  of  the  Pasha  is  as  dirty  and  uninviting  out- 
side is  the  Custom  House  at  Dublin  ;  but  you  are  obliged  to 
take  off  your  shoes  before  you  can  cross  the  inlaid  palace  floor. 
These  palaces  are  emblematic  of  an  Egyptian  dynasty — they 
last  a  monarch's  reign.  There  is  nothing  substantial  about  them. 
The  ornaments  are  chaste  and  costly  ;  the  inlaid  floor  of  pearl 
and  ebony  and  rosewood  and  cedar  are  very  beautiful ;  the 
polish  dazzles  you  ;  the  silver  frame  bed  attracts  you  ;  the  mar- 
ble, so  beautifully  veined  and  variegated,  both  please  yon  ;  the 
oriental  appearance  of  all,  however,  gives  it  the  chief  attraction. 
In  accordance  with  Egyptian  custom,  Said  Pasha,  will  take  an 
extra  cup  of  coffee  some  fine  morning,  and  Egypt  will  have  an- 
other sovereign.  Mehemet  Ali,  however,  who  rose  from  farmer 
to  merchant,  from  merchant  to  soldier,  from  soldier  to  gen- 
eral, and  from  general  to  king,  born  the  same  year  that  gave 
birth  to  his  illustrious  compeers,  Wellington  and  Napoleon  like 
the  former  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age.  His  eldest  son,  Ibrahim 
Pasha,  did  not  survive  him,  and  Abas  Pasha,  who  made  him- 
self notorious  by  keeping  a  harem  of  boys,  was  assassinated  by 
two  of  them,  who  had  become  jealous  of  his  favors.  But  Said 
Pasha  still  lives,  but  his  people  hate  him  more  than  ever  ;  for 
his  love  for  a  standing  army  makes  his  name  a  demon  in  every 
family  injured  by  his  press  gangs. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

ALEXANDRIA,  April  6,  1856. 

Said  Pasha's  Improvements — Railway  Progress  in  Egypt — Donkey  Boys 
at  the  Pyramids — A  Look  at  the  Great  Wonders. 

SAID  Pasha  deserved  much  credit  for  building  so  good  a  rail- 
way, and  for  introducing  carriages  more  comfortable  than  you 
generally  find  ;  but  his  transit  arrangements  are  disgraceful. 
There  seems  to  be  no  head  nor  tail  to  anything.  At  Cairo,  in 
the  able  hands  of  the  Superintendent,  Mr.  Butts,  an  Englishman, 
the  baggage  of  the  overland  is  received  and  despatched  with 
more  system  ;  but  even  there  my  trunks  all  went  wrong,  al- 
though the  labels  were  distinctly  printed.  Each  camel  across 
the  desert  brings  about  six  or  seven  trunks,  and  with  a  caravan 
of  three  or  four  hundred  camels,  there  needs  must  be  more  or 
less  confusion.  The  baggage  train  came  through  yesterday, 
and  I  am  glad  enough  to  find  my  packages,  which  should  have 
been  at  Cairo.  We  make  but  one  change  between  the  two 
cities,  and  that  is  where  we  cross  the  Nile  in  an  English  steamer, 
which  came  very  near  sinking  by  overloading  her.  The  chang- 
ing of  the  freight  into  the  boat,  and  from  the  boat  into  the  cars 
on  the  opposite  side,  would  make  a  hermit  groan  with  laughter. 
Every  movement  shoves  the  cart  before  the  horse.  Four  or  five 
strapping  full  grown  Arabs  are  to  be  seen  urging  and  whipping 
on  a  dozen  little  ragged  boys,  who  tug  away  at  the  cotton  bales 
with  all  their  strength,  the  men  taking  no  share  of  the  labor. 


SAID  PASHA'S  IMPROVEMENTS.  287 


While  this  farce  was  being  enacted,  the  head  Shiek  came  out, 
and  one  of  the  largest  of  the  men  was  seized  by  the  other  four 
and  thrown  down  on  his  face,  while  the  Shiek  gave  him  a  tre- 
mendous beating  with  his  cane  across  his  back.  When  the  man 
got  up  he  assisted  in  bastinadoing  the  rest  of  his  companions, 
who  had  just  been  whipping  him.  Afterwards  they  all  went 
lazily  to  work  till  the  old  man  got  out  of  sight,  when  they  went 
to  beating  the  boys  as  before.  I  never  saw  a  more  dirty,  shiftless 
set  of  able  bodied  men.  We  were  detained  nearly  two  hours 
to  allow  Said  Pasha  to  get  away  in  his  despatch  carriage.  Ban- 
ners were  flying,  guns  roaring  and  regiments  marching  all  the 
while,  to  the  martial  airs  of  Arab  musicians.  During  this  gay 
pageant  there  were  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  of  our  Indian 
party  shivering  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  consigning  in  our  mis- 
ery the  Pasha  and  his  satellites  to  any  place  but  Alexandria. 
We  count  distance  in  this  country  by  hours  ;  before  the  railway, 
with  camel  or  donkey,  it  was  three  miles  to  the  hour.  Now,  if 
you  ask  how  far  it  is  to  Cairo,  you  are  told  eight  hours. 

The  rail  is  laid  down  through  the  alluvial  soil  that  borders 
on  the  Delta,  and  the  road  required  but  little  grading.  The 
whole  enterprise  is  the  private  property  of  the  Pasha.  In  fact, 
ever  since  that  startling  edict  of  Mehemet  Ali,  that  all  Egyp- 
tian property  belonged  to  the  government — ergo,  himself — 
every  enterprise,  every  undertaking,  every  improvement  in  the 
kingdom  belongs  exclusively  to  the  reigning  dynasty.  The 
strange  doctrine  of  the  peasant  Prince  aroused  even  the  sleepy 
nature  of  the  Arabs,  but  only  to  feel  more  severely  the  grinding 
heel  of  the  despot.  The  camels  and  the  donkeys  on  our  route 
have  become  accustomed  to  the  locomotive  ;  but  occasionally 
those  from  far  inland  sheer  off  at  a  tearing  pace  over  ditches 
and  through  grain  fields,  much  to  the  disgust  of  their  driver, 


288  WRETCHEDNESS    OF    CAIRO. 


who  has  lost  all  control  over  his  frightened  brutes.  After  onr 
departure  from  the  chief  Oriental  city,  our  ride  was  diversified 
with  Oriental  fruit  trees  and  Oriental  grain  plantations  and  cot- 
ton plants,  growing  luxuriantly  in  the  black  loamy  soil.  The 
sparrows  were  as  thick  as  locusts,  and  the  road  was  filled  with 
caravans  of  country  Arabs,  going  from  and  to  the  fair,  which 
takes  place  once  a  year.  This  season  there  were  about  300,000 
present.  We  passed  the  grounds,  covered  with  tents  and  cam- 
els and  horses,  where  the  Cairo  dancing  girls  delight  the  youths 
of  the  country  by  the  disgusting  exposure  of  their  forms,  and 
the  revolting  movements  of  the  Almeh,  where  the  Bedouin  finds 
a  market  for  his  horse,  the  Arab  bargains  with  the  Levantine 
merchant  for  his  grain,  the  planter  barters  his  cotton  and  his 
indigo  with  the  Greek,  who  so  well  understands  the  tricks  of 
trade,  for  when  Greek  meets  Greek,  the  Arab  then  gets  squeezed, 
where,  in  spite  of  firmans  from  Stamboul,  the  Turk  knocks  down 
to  the  highest  bidder  his  pretty  women  and  his  ugly  men  ; 
where  honesty  is  bought  and  sold,  for  honor  and  integrity  are 
strange  sounding  words  in  Egypt.  As  you  get  further  into  the 
country,  the  villages  and  cities  become  more  and  more  like  the 
mud  dwellings  of  aboriginal  races.  The  wretchedness  of  Cairo 
must  be  luxurious  beside  the  squallid  filth  of  the  country  town. 
The  rat  trap  tenements  of  the  city  are  palaces  compared  to 
the  beaver  huta  outside,  plastered  over  with  cow  dung,  which 
they  dry  and  use  for  fuel,  like  the  Argols.  of  the  Nomadic  tribes 
of  Northern  China.  Save  a  view  of  Pompey's  pillar,  there  is 
nothing  imposing  in  the  inland  approaches  to  Alexandria.  At 
one  place  we  saw  about  a  thousand  wretched  objects  mending 
a  break  in  the  embankment,  but  they  had  no  shovel,  no  spade, 
no  barrow,  no  implements  whatever.  Half  naked  they  stood  in 
long  rows  along  the  ditch,  passing  a  handful  of  mud  one  to  the 


DONKEY  BOYS  AT  THE  PYRAMIDS. 

other,  like  bricks  out  of  the  hold  of  a  ship.  The  sight  was 
pitiful,  degrading.  The  Shoobrey  Gardens  are  the  most  attrac- 
tive, covering  a  large  space  of  grouud,  and  beautified  by  all  kinds 
of  Oriental  flowers,  trees  and  plants,  which  are  arranged  with 
more  than  usual  regard  to  symmetry  ;  fountains  and  grottoe 
are  interspersed  throughout  the  extensive  paths  and  winding 
walks,  through  orange  groves  and  fig  trees,  the  lemon,  the  apri- 
cot, the  date  and  the  pomegranate  ;  a  beautiful  green  foliage 
shades  the  beach  stone  avenues,  and  a  delicious  perfume  delights 
one  with  the  artificial  nature,  in  most  agreeable  contrast  to  the 
perfume  that  arises  from  the  lanes  and  alleys  of  the  city.  The 
palace  grounds  are  more  extensive  than  the  palace  ;  the  build- 
ing is  but  one  story,  of  square  proportions,  surrounding^  a  lake, 
with  fountains  in  the  centre.  There  are  but  four  rooms,  one  in 
each  corner — a  billiard  room,  a  dining  room,  a  bedroom,  and  a 
drawing  room.  This  is  the  favorite  palace  of  the  Pasha,  where 
he  comes  to  sport  with  the  fair  inmates  of  the  harem.  Then  no 
visiter  or  native,  save  the  huge  coarse  form  of  the  mutilated 
Nubian,  is  permitted  to  enter  the  sacred  precincts  ;  then  the 
garden  gates  are  closed  to  all  but  wives,  and  Circassian  and 
Georgian  concubines,  the  voluptuous  Pasha,  the  impotent,  beast- 
ly eunuch,  who  can  only  live  to  curse  the  demon  who  deprived 
him  of  his  nature  ! 

I  reserve  for  the  last  the  first  of  Egyptian  wonders — the 
Pyramids.  Besieged  by  donkey  boys,  whose  infernal  jargon 
still  haunts  my  sleep,  our  party  at  last  were  mounted,  and,  cross- 
ing the  Nile,  we  scampered  through  the  mud  walled  village  of 
Ghizeh  to  the  colossal  pillar  of  ages,  dark  with  mystery.  Of 
course  I  went  to  the  top  of  the  monster  tomb.  Of  course  I 
dived  down  into  the  cavern  chambers  in  its  base,  and  groped 
through  its  dismal  passages.  Of  course  I  made  the  usual  com- 


290  A    LOOK    AT    THE    GREAT    WOXDEHS. 


mon  place  observations  of  astonishment,  working  myself  up  to 
the  necessary  pitch  of  the  enthusiastic  traveler.  Of  course  the 
Arab  guides  who  hand  you  up  the  mountain  of  rock  demanded 
"  bucksheesh"  before  their  task  was  done,  and  you  refuse,  at  the 
risk  of  meeting  with  violence.  Of  course  you  select  the  choicest 
language  in  describing  your  sensations  to  your  companions, 
while  gazing  from  the  dizzy  height  upon  the  barren,  objectless 
desert,  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Delta,  the  sister  pyramids  of  Ghi- 
zeh  and  Sakara,  the  minarets,  the  mosques  of  old  Cairo,  the  first 
among  Arabian  cities,  and  you  express  surprise  to  find  Jenny 
Lind's  name  cut  among  the  thousands  scratched  upon  the  sand- 
stone, and  think  you  would-  like  to  have  heard  the  Nightingale 
sing  so  high  in  air  among  the  clouds. 

It  is  difficult  to  conceive  that  these  leviathan  tombstones  were 
erected  so  many  hundred  years  before  Solomon  impoverished 
himself  in  building  the  Temple.  "  The  generations  of  forty  cen- 
turies" said  Napoleon  to  his  army,  "  are  looking  down  upon  the 
battlefield,"  as  the  Mameluke  cavalry  scoured  the  desert ;  thus, 
in  his  soul  stirring  proclamations  stimulating  his  fatigued  sold- 
iers to  be  led  on  to  victory.  The  great  pyramid  was  completed 
2,123  years  before  our  present  era,  and  has  lived  through  the 
interesting  historical  changes  of  Egypt.  For  nearly  four  thou- 
sand years  it  has  watched  the  breaking  up  of  dynasties,  age 
after  age,  outliving  the  oldest  of  its  kings — the  burial  of  Phil- 
lip, of  Alexander  and  of  Cleopatra — the  invasion  of  the  Roman 
army  under  Caesar,  of  the  Turkish  host  under  Sultan  Selim,  in 
1517,  and  of  the  French  in  1798,  who  three  years  after  were 
expelled  by  the  English — outliving  the  peasant  prince,  who 
founded,  in  1806,  the  present  dynasty — astonishing  all  who 
have  beheld  it  since  its  erection,  and  will  yet  stand  to  astonish 
nations  yet  unborn.  The  base  of  the  pyramid  covers  some 

V    -* 


PYRAMIDS EGOTISM   OF    A    PRINCE.  291 

twelve  acres  of  land,  and  it  is  estimated  that  it  consumed 
85,000,000  cubic  feet  of  stone  ;  but  who  can  estimate  the 
lavish  waste  of  life  caused  by  the  vanity  of  man,  in  erecting  so 
stupendous  a  pile,  costing  years  of  labor  and  thousands  of  men, 
simply  to  gratify  the  egotism  of  a  prince,  who  with  the  same  means 
might  have  made  portions  of  the  desert  blossom  as  th"e  rose  ? 

The  American  Consular  agent  at  Cairo  is  a  Greek,  who  speaks 
most  of  the  languages  of  the  Continent.  These  sub-Consuls 
receive  their  appointments  from  the  Consul  General  at  Alex- 
andria. 

To-morrow  I  shall  see  something  of  railway  traveling  in 
Egypt. 


.* 


--M-  • 
V     -i**t     i   .<?  V-'"  V.i;..     i 


to 

<V:j- 

• 

CHAPTEE    XXXII. 

. 

JAFFA,  SYRIA,  April  12,  1856. 

Sensations  after  a  Journey  to  Jerusalem — Comforts  in  Syria — The  City 
of  Jaffa — People  Met  by  the  Way — The  American  University — Reptiles 
at  the  Holy  Tombs — Mount  of  Olives  and  the  Jordan — The  Arabs 
and  Missionaries — An  Excitement  and  Incidents. 

I  HAVE  been  to  Jerusalem,  and  have  returned  again,  delighted 
and  disgusted  ;  delighted  while  traveling  in  the  hallowed  asso- 
ciations of  bygone  ages — disgusted  at  the  utter  desolation  of 
nature.  My  ride  was  tedious,  my  lunch  bad,  my  horse  sore- 
footed  and  sore-backed. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  comfort  in  Syria,  and  yet,  so  long 
as  time  lasts,  pilgrims  will  be  instructed  by  a  visit  to  the  Holy 
Laud.  In  forty  hours  our  steamer,  the  Tancred,  reached  this 
ancient  port,  near  where  Zebedee  flourished  among  the  fisher- 
men, and  Paul  lodged  with  Simon  among  the  tanners  ;  where 
Egyptian  commerce  was  cradled,  where  the  crossbow,  the  javelins 
and  the  arquebus  were  used  by  the  Crusaders,  and  where  Napo- 
leon's enemies  find  material  for  their  abuse.  I  was  on  the  beach 
where  it  is  said  he  coolly  shot  down  the  prisoners  who  surren- 
dered on  condition  of  their  lives  being  spared,  shot  them  because 
he  had  no  food,  and  as  prisoners  they  must  starve  ;  and  I  also 
visited  the  Armenian  convent,  where  it  is  asserted  that  he  pois- 
oned his  wounded  soldiers,  to  prevent  them  from  falling  into  the 
enemy's  hands.  These  two  serious  charges  may  be  true,  but 


THE    CITY    OF   JAFFA.  293 


friendly  and  hostile  writers  differ.  The  fertility  that  winds 
itself  about  the  inland  side  of  Jaffa  by  no  means  prepares  one 
for  the  barrenness  about  Jerusalem.  After  leaving  the  pictur- 
esque half  orange-shaped  site  of  the  quaint  old  town — after 
walking  your  horse  through  the  soft,  loamy  paths,  lined  on 
either  side  by  the  cactus  or  prickly  pear,  an  impenetrable  fence 
— after  the  odor  of  the  orange  and  the  lemon  trees  is  left  on  the 
shore,  and  the  luxuriant  groves  are  hidden  from  the  view — after 
galloping  over  the  plains  before  you  get  to  Ramleh,  fertile  with 
the  wealthy  growth  of  Indian  corn,  of  millet  and  of  Syrian  bar- 
ley— after  you  have  ridden  through  the  valley  of  Sharon,  ad- 
miring the  butterfly  beauty  of  the  wild  poppy,  occasionally 
meeting  with  what,  I  suppose,  was  the  "  lilly  of  the  valley," 
but  looking  in  vain  to  find  the  "  rose  of  Sharon"  there — after 
you  have  wandered  about  the  old  stone  towers  of  Ramleh,  with 
its  Armenian  convent,  now  shut  to  all  but  Catholics,  and  par- 
taken of  the  cheese-paring  accommodation  of  the  Tri-Consular 
Hotel,  at  Astor  House  prices,  where  fleas  fatten  and  vermin 
gloat  upon  your  carcase — after  you  have  mounted  up  the  ancient 
tower,  where  Dr.  Robinson  became  so 'enchanted  with  Syrian 
nature,  and  retraced  your  steps  to  resume  your  journey,  riding 
again  through  fertile  hills  and  valleys,  where  grain  fields  and  olive 
plantations  and  cactus  fences  form  the  chief  attraction  ;  after 
these  are  past  and  the  garden  portion  of  your  journey  is  com- 
pleted, prepare  yourself  to  be  rudely  shocked  at  nature  void  of 
refinement,  at  scenery  whose  nudeness  and  dreary  features  startle 
you  into  astonishment.  The  pleasant  paths  of  the  morning  tow- 
ards evening  verge  into  one,  and  it  is  now  that  you  begin  to 
understand  what  it  is  to  make  a  tour  to  Jerusalem.  Coming 
from  among  some  of  the  Australian  ranges,  the  coast  of  China 
and  rock  of  Aden,  I  was  not  likely  to  be  amazed  at  the  strange 


294 


PEOPLE    MET    BY    THE    WAY. 


appearance  of  the  country,  but  really  I  never  before  saw  a  moun- 
tain desert. 

For  miles  our  foot  path,  for  it  was  nothing  more,  for  car- 
riages could  not  pass  through  those  ravines,  no  more  than  a  ship 
among  the  Jaffa  breakers  ;  for  miles  our  way  was  over  hills  and 
deep  mountain  passes,  down  rugged  heights,  dangerous  to  man 
much  more  to  beast,  and  up  the  mountain's  side  again,  only  to 
find  it  worse  beyond  ;  naught  meets  your  eye  but  rocks — rocks 
on  the  plain  and  rocks  on  the  mountain,  and  rocks  intervening 
— an  illimitable  space  of  rocks — your  vision  tires  itself  to  sleep 
at  gazing  over  the  treeless,  flowerless  mountain  path.  But  you 
are  cheered  with  renewed  vigor  when  you  at  last  reach  the  shade 
of  the  little  patch  of  olive  trees,  under  whose  friendly  branches 
Arabs  and  Turks  and  the  Christian  traveler  have  rested  for 
refreshment  for  years  and  years,  for  some  of  the  trees  are  patri- 
archs. A  hard  boiled  egg,  a  cold  chicken  and  some  barley 
bread  our  dragoman,  by  some  magic  process,  which  I  shall 
probably  discover  when  the  bills  are  paid,  has  always  in  readi- 
ness, which,  with  the  Syrian  oranges  and  the  cold  water  which 
the  Arab  children  bring  you,  expecting  bucksheesh,  give  you  an 
ample  repast. 

Our  half  way  station  was  alive  with  Arabian  and  Turkish 
caravans — an  encampment  of  some  one  hundred  and  fifty  per- 
sons— whole  families  bound  on  some  expedition  to  the  Holy 
City.  Distributing  the  remains  of  our  lunch  among  the  poor 
little  famishing  children,  who  showed  their  gratitude  by  haunt- 
ing us  for  bucksheesh,  we  continued  our  journey,  but  no  better 
road  awaited  us.  The  path  became  more  and  more  irregular, 
the  mountain  regions  more  and  more  desolate  ;  the  whole  coun- 
try is  blasted  as  with  the  palsy.  No  matter  where  we  turn, 
rocks — small  rocks  and  large  rocks — stare  at  us  from  under 


*, 

CITY    OF   JERUSALEM.  295 


the  scorching  sun — rocks  at  the  base  of  the  towering  mountain, 
and  rocks  when  we  reach  the  summit,  hour  after  hour  we  ride 
through  the  almost  impenetrable  wilderness  of  rocks. 

Our  faithful  Abraham,  accustomed  to  such  labor,  shows  evi- 
dence of  fatigue.  My  companion  from  India,  a  good  horseman, 
occasionally  walks  to  rest  his  weary  limbs,  and  there  are  portions 
of  my  body  blistered  with  the  torturing  jumping  of  the  Turkish 
saddle.  One  long  range  of  mountains  more,  terraced  with  rock 
to  their  very  peak,  only  one  more,  and  Jerusalem,  the  central 
palatial  city,  bursts  out  from  the  mountains  that  encircle  it,  ap- 
parently but  a  few  rods  off ;  but  the  rods  are  miles.  The  first 
view  is  sublime,  and  your  memory  is  taxed  with  peopling  it 
again.  A  little  more  than  a  day's  ride  from  the  Levant,  a  little 
less  than  a  day's  ride  from  the  Jordan,  is  the  ancient  Salem  of 
the  East,  the  Jebus  of  the  sons  of  Canaan,  the  Jerusalem  of  the 
Israelites,  who  subdued  it  under  the  stripling  who  so*  dexterously 
used  the  sling  against  the  chief  of  the  Philistines.  At  a  brook, 
near  a  village  on  our  way,  the  spot  was  pointed  out  where  tradi- 
tion marks  the  meeting  of  David  and  Goliah.  To  the  children 
of  the  Saxon  mother  Jerusalem  is  associated  with  romantic 
events.  In  early  days  it  was  the  battle  field  of  almost  every 
race.  David  conquered  it — the  Chaldeans  destroyed  it — the 
Jews  rebuilt  it.  About  the  same  period  that  Confucius  was 
stereotyping  his  remarkable  code  of  morals  upon  the  Chinese 
mind,  King  Herod  was  exhausting  his  military  chest  in  orna- 
menting his  capital.  Three  quarters  of  a  century  before  the 
Christian  era,  the  Roman  conqueror,  Titus,  saw  the  glorious 
Solomon's  temple  leveled  before  his  victorious  army.  Other 
changes,  of  conquests,  of  whirlwinds,  of  earthquakes,  the  days 
of  Constantine  and  of  Julian,  rapidly  followed.  Changes  mag- 
nificent in  history,  where  Persian  generals  and  Greek  kings, 


296 


TURKISH    SWAY    IN    SYKIA. 


Christians  and  infidels,  Turks  and  Saracenic  hosts  all  shone  tri- 
umphantly in  their  turn,  till  Godfrey  of  Boillion,  in  the  last  year 
of  the  eleventh  century,  raised  again  the  banner  of  the  cross. 
Although  so  long  ago  since  I  pored  over  the  sparkling  page  of 
poetical  inspiration  wherein  Torquato  Tasso,  in  his  "  Jerusalem 
Delivered,"  took  out  his  patent  for  immortality,  the  golden  des- 
criptions freshen  as  I  reflect,  the  protracted  siege,  the  battle 
and  the  victory,  I  can  imagine  all ;  and  as  I  near  the  gate  of 
Solomon,  contemplation  quickens  reverential  awe  with  which 
I  gaze  upon  the  birthplace  of  our  Bible,  our  religion  and  our 
Saviour.  The  Crusades  were  full  of  brave  memories.  A  cen- 
tury after  Saladin,  the  Oriental  Sultan,  unsheated  his  sabre,  and 
the  infidel's  flag  once  again  was  unfurled  from  the  palace  dome. 
But  since  that  day,  step  by  step,  we  see  the  working  of  revela- 
tion. Latin  princes,  Egyptian  emperors  and  Turkish  sultans 
have  massacred  and  have  reigned,  have  lived  and  died  within 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem.  The  Turk  now  holds  sway  in  Syria — 
on  every  side  veiled  women  and  Turkish  soldiers.  The  ro- 
mance and  history  of  our  Saviour's  native  land  is  of  yesterday — 
for  to-day  the  Moslem  rules,  and  who  shall  tell  of  the  mor- 
row? 

Wherever  I  go,  I  find  Americans  ;  some  are  at  the  Medi- 
terranean, some  at  Symond's,  but  the  best  hotel,  I  believe,  is  the 
former,  and  comfortable  quarters  can  be  procured  at  moderate 
prices,  if  you  can  credit  the  recommendation  which  every  guest 
records  in  the  hotel  book.  Jerusalem  has  been  so  often  visited 
and  described,  that  I  shall  make  myself  most  agreeable  by  say- 
ing little  regarding  it.  Since  the  tyrant  Sultan  Achmet  lorded 
it  over  the  land,  the  writers  on  Syria  have  been  most  industrious. 
From  the  Englishman,  George  Sandys,  in  1610  ;  the  Italian, 
Mariti,  in  1760  j  the  Frenchman,  Chateaubriand,  who,  after 
'"  . 


REPTILES   AT   THE   HOLY  TOMBS.  297 

•%          Tl     . 


slandering  Bonaparte,  traveled  in  Syria  in  1806,  and  Lamartine, 
twenty-six  years  later,  whose  book  of  travels  is  only  a  book  of 
poems  —  for  fact  is  lost  in  fancy  —  down  to  later  tourists,  our  own 
countrymen,  Stephens,  in  1836,  and  Robinsion,  in  1841,  and 
numerous  publications  up  to  the  present  day,  but  from  what  I 
can  gather  from  the  Orientals,  the  accomplished  scholar  and 
distinguished  divine  of  New  York  bears  away  the  palm  for  hav- 
ing written  the  best  work  -on  the  country.  Let  the  Syrian 
tourist  carefully  peruse  it,  and  he  will  feel  well  prepared  to  visit 
Jerusalem.  Hundreds  of  writers,  many  of  whom  have  marked 
out  a  new  theory  —  Jews,  infidels,  Christians,  all  have  had  their 
day  —  every  year  something  new  turns  up  —  localities  are  changed, 
writers  differ,  and  research  must  often  terminate  in  confusion. 
Following  our  guide,  we  were  hurried  through  the  city  and  sub- 
urbs. The  Via  Dolorosa,  the  Holy  Sepulchre  on  Mount  Cal- 
vary, the  tombs  of  Mary,  of  Lazarus,  of  David,  of  Absalom, 
the  Brook  Kedron,  the  Yalley  of  Jehoshaphat,  the  tombs  of  the 
Kings  and  of  the  Judges,  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  the  Garden 
of  Gethsemane,  we  saw  them  all,  and  more,  but  their  sanctity 
is  only  in  the  past.  Donkeys  with  heavy  loads  of  water  and  of 
dirt  rubbing  against  you  ;  camels  with  a  cargo  of  planks  or  a 
cartload  of  stone  upon  their  backs  brushing  past  ;  women  with 
covered  faces,  who  do  well  to  hide  their  ugliness  from  the  gaze 
of  man  ;  men  dirty,  savage  and  obscene  ;  children  whose  sore 
eyes  and  unclean  faces,  and  tattered  rags  send  a  chill  through 
the  frame  ;  all  men,  women  and  children  begging  for  bucksheesh  • 
dogs  whose  lean,  lank  form  is  enough  to  breed  a  famine  ;  lizards 
of  enormous  size  crawling  through  the  fissures  of  the  holy  tombs  : 
fleas  fastening  upon  you  at  every  turn  —  verily,  it  is  sufficient  to 
make  the  heart  sick  to  visit  the  Holy  Land,  the  wreck  of  what 

it  was  ;  and  those  who  have  not  visited  it  will  best  retain  their 

HP  . 

• 


298  MOUNT   OF   OLIVES. 

*•*  . 

respect  for  it  by  staying  at  home,  for  distance  lends  enchantment 
to  the  view.  You  can  but  be  disgusted  at  the  foul  desecration 
of  the  holy  places,  where  ghostly  vampires  suck  your  pockets 
even  on  the  threshold  of  the  Sepulchre.  I  do  not  think  I  pos- 
sess the  required  material  for  traveling  in  Palestine  ;  and  if 
many  other  tourists  would  be  as  frank  they  would  acknowledge 
that  the  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land  is  only  in  the  name — the 
ideal  was  more  impressive  than  real.  The  breakneck  ride  to 
the  quiet  little  village  of  Bethlehem  makes  one  better  natured, 
by  viewing  the  fertile  valley  close  by,  where  olives,  and  figs, 
and  grain  fields,  rich  with  the  early  crop,  relieve  the  eyes  from 
the  desert  that  encircles  them  ;  the  fair  features  of  the  women 
of  Bethlehem,  and  their  erect  form  as  they  walk  in  their  loose 
blue  gowns,  make  them  most  attractive  ;  but  when  you  visit 
their  households  the  filth  and  wretchedness  to  be  seen  there 
take  away  all  the  poetry  of  a  handsome  face  and  noble  figure. 
The  church  and  the  cathedral  would  be  worthy  of  comment, 
were  it  not  for  the  flummery  of  the  priests,  who  take  you  through 
so  many  spots  said  to  have  been  made  sacred  by  Christ  and  the 
Apostles. 

The  pointing  out  of  the  manger  in  which  our  Saviour  was 
born  completes  the  disgust  which  tinsel  and  humbug,  vice  and 
misery  have  created  the  very  moment  you  commence  your  rounds 
at  Jerusalem.  The  absurdity  of  the  remarks  makes  the  whole 
thing  ridiculous,  and  after  being  here  you  are  ready  to  admit  the 
wide  difference  between  what  you  have  read  and  what  you  now 
observe. 

The  Mount  of  Olives  overlooks  the  dirty  little  stream  of  Jor- 
dan, and  the  dreary,  glassy  look  of  the  Dead  sea  ;  but  the  view 
k  of  the  Holy  City  and  the  surrounding  mountains  is  worth  the 
ascent.  Among  the  many  spots  made  noted  by  Scriptural  ref- 


GARDEN    OF    GETHSKMANE,  299 


erence  none  impressed  me  more  than  the  walk  through  the 
Garden  of  Gethsemane.  Oriental  flowers  still  bloom  about  the 
walks,  and  olive  trees  as  old  as  the  Lebanon  cedars  still  orna- 
ment the  spot.  An  old  monk  resides  in  one  corner  of  the  gar- 
den, and  he  keeps  it  ever  fresh  with  Eastern  plants.  I  bought 
many  of  these  flowers  (pressed)  to  take  home  to  my  cis-atlantic 
friends.  Brief  enough  has  been  my  visit,  but  I  have  not  the 
fancy  for  a  longer  time,  for  there  are  many  places  to  see  before 
I  return:  I  did  not  care  about  going  down  in  a  diving  bell  in 
the  Red  sea  to  find  the  ruins  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  the 
desert  journey  to  Damascus  takes  ten  days.  A  party  of  English 
gentlemen,  headed  by  a  New  Yorker,  had  just  arrived  at  Jeru- 
salem from  Cairo,  having  been  eighteen  days  in  crossing  the 
desert.  Some  tourists  find  amusement  here  for  months,  but, 
days  suit  my  taste  better.  The  clergyman  who  visits  Palestine 
and  spends  a  short  time  at  Jerusalem  most  likely  will  entirely 
alter  the  diction  of  his- discourse.  A  sermon  on  the  Holy  Land 
before  and  after  the  visit  would  be  most  unlike.  When,  full  of 
the  beautiful  metaphor  and  splendid  imagery  of  the  inspired 
pages,  you  land  in  Syria,  to  find  only  the  ghost  of  your  imagina- 
tion— the  skeleton  and  crossbones,  without  a  particle  of  the  flesh 
or  blood,  or  veins  or  muscles  of  active  life  or  remembrance,  you 
almost  wish  you  had  never  seen  Jerusalem  ;  and  yet  the  tour, 
once  over,  is  instructive,  and  adds  one  more  link  to  the  traveler's 
knowledge.  To  dwell  long  there  we  should  have  books  and 
pencil,  should  be  an  antiquary,  a  botanist,  a  geologist  or  a  divine, 
for  no  thirst  for  ancient  associations,  no  biblical  reminiscences, 
unless  you  happen  to  possess  enthusiasm  and  piety  above  the 
common  herd,  will  keep  a  tourist  many  weeks  in  Jerusalem. 

Great  excitement  among  the  Arabs  was  caused,  a  few  clays 
ago,  by  the  accidental  discharge  of  a  missionary's  gun,  killing  one 


300  AN    EXCITEMENT — A    ROBBERY. 


of  their  number.  It  was  at  Nablous,  and  the  man  was,  like 
them  all,  importunate  for  lucksheesh,  and,  catching  hold  of  the 
horse  which  the  gentleman  rode,  the  animal  reared,  and  the  dis- 
charge of  the  rifle  proved  fatal  to  the  beggar.  As  soon  as  the 
accident  became  known  the  Arabs  rose  en  masse,  arrested  the 
clergyman,  killed  a  relative  of  the  Prussian  Consul,  broke  into 
the  house  of  the  English  and  other  Consuls,  robbed  them  of 
everything  portable,  stripping  the  ladies  of  their  clothes  and  orna- 
ments, and  killing  one  or  two  of  the  native  converts.  The  emeute 
at  one  time  bid  fair  to  become  serious  ;  the  Pasha  at  once  des- 
patched a  company  of  soldiers  to  put  down  the  riot,  and  take 
away  the  unfortunate  missionary,  who  was  placed  in  the  Govern- 
or's house,  to  prevent  him  from  undergoing  the  summary  punish- 
ment of  Lynch  law.  News  has  now  arrived  that  the  insurrection 
has  been  put  down,  and  all  is  quiet  at  Nablous.  Another  inci- 
dent here  has  very  much  annoyed  the  friends  of  the  mission. 
Some  converts,  it  was  said,  had  been  made  among  the  natives. 
Receiving  an  education  in  the  missionary  schools,  they  professed 
r  their  belief  as  Christians.  Last  week  a  robbery  of  a  jeweler's 
shop  of  considerable  value  gave  the  police  a  chase  to  find  the 
robber,  and  days  past  without  the  least  trace — for  the  mis- 
sionary's converts  were  above  suspicion — and  you  can  understand 
how  disappointed  the  mission's  friends  must  feel  to  find  that  one 
of  their  head  native  teachers,  who  was  most  devout  in  his  pro- 
fessions, had  turned  out,  not  only  to  be  the  thief  in  this  instance, 
but  has  been  for  a  long  time  the  leader  of  a  most  formidable 
band  of  robbers. 

To  catch  the  Austrian  Lloyd's  steamer  for  Beyrout,  we  were 
obliged  to  ride  through  to  Joppa  in  a  day  ;  and  in  company 
with  a  large  number  of  English  gentlemen,  single  file,  we  re- 
traced our  steps  along  the  rocky  path  made  by  the  torrent 


LEAVING    JERUSALEM.  301 


formed  from  the  melting  of  the  mountain  snows.  Leaving  Jeru- 
salem, with  its  dead  monuments  of  past  magnificence,  we  pass- 
ed once  more  the  cheerless,  inhospitable  land  about  it,  where 
nature,  refusing  to  smile  where  God  has  accursed,  wears  the 
live-long  day  and  in  the  darkness  of  the  night  an  everlasting 
frown.  Like  the  Mongol  Tartars,  the  Syrian  Arabs  live  only  for 
their  flocks  and  their  herds,  and  it  is  difficult  for  the  Western 
traveler,  as  he  winds  his  way  along  the  stony  cliffs,  to  realize, 
amid  such  terrible  desolation,  that  this  is  the  luxuriant  country 
where  the  husbandman  gathered  his  figs  thrice  and  his  harvests 
twice  in  every  year — where  the  industry  and  art  of  the  Hebrew 
made  the  desert  flow  with  milk  and  wine,  with  oil  and  with 
honey. 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

JOURNEY  FROM  ALEXANDRIA  TO  CONSTANTINOPLE. 

ON  BOARD  THE  STEAMSHIP  MERSSINA,  ) 
RHODES  HAKBOR,  April  21,  1856.      ) 

Tour  in  the  Levant — Alexandria,  Jaffa  and  Constantinople — Cost  of  the 
Journey  and  Hire  of  a  Dragoman — How  a  Dragoman  can  Bully,  Pray 
and  Cheat — Civilization  of  the  Turks  towards  their  Conquered — 
Caiffa,  the  Hill  of  Carmel,  its  Convent,  and  Elijah,  and  Napoleon — 
Acre  and  its  Generals — A  Run  and  Ride  in  the  Country — A  Ball  at 
a  Pasha's  Palace — Glimpse  of  a  Lady  of  the  Harem — Zeno's  Birth 
place. 

DURING  the  last  ten  days  our  steamer  had  been  on  a  yacht 
excursion  through  the  Turkish  end  of  the  Levant.  The  route  from 
Alexandria  to  Constantinople  is  very  convenient  to  the  tourist 
who  wishes  to  visit  some  of  the  most  important  ports  of  Asiatic 
Turkey.  For  some  time  past  there  have  been  two  lines  of  steam- 
ers between  the  above  mentioned  cities,  plying  every  week, 
each  line  in  turn.  From  Alexandria  to  Jaffa,  I  paid  $17  50  in 
the  French  boat,  belonging  to  the  Messagerie  Imperial,  one  of 
the  largest  steam  mail  companies  in  Europe,  and  at  Jaffa  I 
booked  myself  through,  after  visiting  Jerusalem  to  Constantino- 
ple, for  $70,  by  the  Austrian  Lloyd's,  paying  half  price  for  our 
dragoman,  engaged  at  Alexandria  at  $40  per  month,  myself 
and  companion  paying  his  traveling  expenses,  and  passage  back 
again.  He  is  a  Maltese,  and  speaks  French,  Italian,  English, 
Arabic  and  Turkish,  and  fills  the  situation  of  vali  de  place,  in- 


HOW   A   DRAGOMAN    CAN   BULLY.  303 


terpreter,  guard  ;  in  short,  he  is  a  man  of  all  work,  invaluable 
to  a  traveler  in  the  East ;  wherever  we  go  he  seems  to  have 
acquaintances  among  the  blackguards  and  scoundrels  of  the 
place,  gets  return  commissions  for  the  most  trifling  of  our  pur- 
chases ;  bullies  the  hotel  keepers,  knocks  down  the  boatman, 
upsets  the  donkey  boys,  patronizes  the  Catholic  church,  apolo- 
gises for  knocking  down  a  Custom  House  officer,  who  detains 
our  portmanteau,  because  we  don't  give  him  bucksheesh;  carries 
a  cudgel  to  enforce  his  arguments  with  the  natives,  wears  a 
beard  some  ten  inches  long,  gets  into  a  terrible  rage  with  the 
steward  when  there  is  no  milk  for  our  coffee,  and  regards  us 
more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger,  when  noticing  our  gross  igno- 
rance of  Oriental  conduct  and  Oriental  languages.  Abraham 
is  the  prince  of  dragomans.  We  know  he  cheats  us,  yet  his 
attention  to  our  wants  compensates  for  the  fraud.  Without 
him  we  should  see  nothing,  and  perhaps  pay  more  than  should 
cover  his  commission.  The  dragoman  of  the  East  is  an  expen- 
sive luxury,  a  necessary  evil,  who  by  a  freemasonry  peculiar  to 
the  class,  links  himself  in  with  the  hotel  keepers,  shopmen,  and 
the  minor  sharks  that  hover  in  the  traveler's  wake.  We  know 
he  cheats  us,  yet  we  are  sure  to  give  him  a  certificate  of  his  effi- 
ciency and  good  behaviour,  when  his  duty  has  been  accomplished, 
as  others  have  done  before  us.  Without  dwelling  long  in  a 
place,  for  our  steamer  seldom  stopped  but  a  day,  let  me  mention 
the  towns  one  sees  while  en  route  for  Constantinople — towns 
high  sounding  and  important  ages  before  the  white  man  began 
the  war  of  extermination  against  the  red  Indian  ;  and,  like  the 
proud  natives  of  the  American  hunting  fields,  their  history  is  in 
the  past ;  but,  unlike  them,  no  marks  of  civilization  or  improve- 
ment follow  in  the  wake  of  the  conquerer  ;  for  wherever  the 
taboosh,  the  boy  trainers  and  the  harem  of  the  Turk  are  to 


.•*    -4-  * 


304  ACRE    AND    ITS    GENERALS. 


be  found,  in  Egypt,  Syria,  or  Asia  Minor,  the  night  mare  of  in- 
dolence and  superstition  has  paralyzed  all  attempts  at  reform. 
Wherever  your  Moslem  appears,  he  comes  like  a  destroying  an- 
gel, darkening  the  glories  of  the  past,  and  withering,  as  with  a 
blight,  the  energies  of  the  present. 

Onr  first  halt  after  leaving  Joppa,  was  at  the  small  town  of 
Caiffa,  on  the  margin  of  the  sea,  of  little  importance  as  a  trading 
port,  but  interestingly  situated  at  the  base  of  Mount  Carmel. 
The  old  convent — made  noted  by  Elijah  in  the  early  times,  and 
by  Napoleon,  who  turned  the  sacred  building  into  an  hospital 
for  his  sick  during  his  Eastern  campaign — is  conspicuously  situ- 
ated on  the  Mount.  Warburton  describes  his  sojourn  there  as 
having  been  made  delightful  by  the  kindness  of  the  monks. 

A  company  of  fifteen  German  pilgrims,  poor  in  purse  but  rich 
in  mind — artists,  poets  ;  novelists — came  on  board,  to  leave 
again  at  Beyrout,  from  whence  they  are  bound  to  Damascus. 
Acre — where  Sir  Sidney  Smith,  with  his  little  band  of  marines, 
to  stimulate  the  Arabs,  shut  the  gate  in  the  face  of  Napoleon 
just  fifty-eight  years  ago — is  to  be  seen  on  the  other  side  of  the 
point.  It  was  a  bold  defence.  The  British  sailor  was  too 
much  for  Bonaparte.  After  two  months'  painful  suspense,  nine 
savage  assaults,  the  ravages  of  the  plague  thinning  the  ranks  of 
the  army,  the  French  General,  choosing  defeat  rather  than  mu- 
tiny, sullenly  retired  with  his  discontented  soldiers.  As  late  as 
1840  British  cannon  again  roared  about  its  fortresses.  Ten 
years'  labor  will  not  repair  the  damage  of  Napier's  broadsides. 
Some  of  the  early  Generals  pronounce  Acre  the  "  Key  of  the 
East,"  and  Napoleon  made  the  same  remark  to  Murat.  Its  his- 
tory is  pregnant  with  the  events  of  war.  Richard,  Godfrey, 
and  other  Christain  princes,  in  the  time  of  the  Crusades,  made 
its  old  walls  ring  when  battling  with  Saladin. 
P 


^*r  *i  «. 

THE    HOTEL    BELLEVUE.  305 


Beyrout  was  our  first  important  point  of  call,  where  we  remain- 
ed for  two  days,  to  look  about  us.  The  town  is  eulogized  by  all 
who  visit  it.  Being  the  chief  of  the  Syrian  ports,  there  is  more 
activity  on  the  quays.  There  are  a  few  English  merchants  and 
bankers  here,  but  the  Greeks  manage  to  secure  the  cream  of  the 
trade.  In  payment  for  British  and  European  manufactured  ar- 
ticles, wool,  cotton,  and  wheat  are  shipped  ;  and  since  the  war, 
prices  for  grain  have  ruled  ;  imports  and  exports  keep  along 
together.  An  American  has  been  here  for  some  time  buying 
wool  for  a  Boston  house  ;  but  with  the  duty  in  the  States  it 
must  be  up  hill  work  to  make  it  lucrative.  With  this  exception, 
our  country  is  not  represented,  save  by  a  Consul  from  New 
Hampshire,  an  obliging  gentleman,  whose  capacity  is  equal  to 
the  duties  which  he  is  called  upon  to  perform. 

The  Hotel  Bellevue  is  the  most  respectable  house  I  have 
found  since  leaving  Alexandria,  conveniently  located  inside  the 
town  and  well  conducted.  The  other  hotel  is  in  the  suburbs, 
where  our  Consul  resides.  Lord  and  Lady  Port  Arlington, 
our  fellow  passengers  from  Joppa,  give  that  the  preference,  but 
I  prefer  the  other.  They  are  bound  to  Damascus,  and  then  to 
Jerusalem.  The  lady,  who  is  willing  to  undergo  the  fatiguing 
and  dangerous  journey  over  the  mountains  of  Palestine,  where 
the  mountain  torrent  forms  the  footpath  (and  even  the  Syrian 
shepherd  and  husbandman  carries  a  musket,  a  cutlass,  and  a 
pair  of  pistols  for  protection  against  the  bandit  Bedouin)  to  get 
a  view  of  ancient  ruins,  and  holy  temples,  deserves  more  credit 
than  she  will  have  awarded  by  those  who  have  no  idea  of  the 
difficulties  to  be  encountered.  Four  of  us,  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, started  for  the  village  of  the  Druses,  situated  on  the  sum- 
mit of  the  mountain,  a  three  hours'  ride.  We  were  well  mount- 
ed at  a  dollar  each,  and  reached  Bheit  Marie  in  tune  to  enjoy 

•*•*•, 

r 


306  VISIT  TO   THE    DRUSES. 


our  lunch.  The  scene  from  the  great  elevation  was  grand  in 
the  extreme.  Back  of  us,  other  mountains,  overlooking  the 
clouds,  their  peaks  white  with  snow  the  entire  year,  looked  down 
upon  a  rockbound  valley,  once  fertile  with  the  industry  of  man. 
Onward  to  the  left  was  the  road  to  Lebanon,  where  the  twelve 
old  cedars  have  outlived  more  than  two  Methusalehs  ;  on  the 
right  a  few  orchards  still  show  the  occupation  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  mountains,  orchards  of  fig  and  lemon  and  olive  trees. 
Front  of  us,  step  by  step,  mountain  over  mountain,  a  terrace  of 
mammoth  hills,  some  red  with  sandstone,  some  green  with  the 
forest  pine,  some  more  fertile  than  the  rest,  bearing  evidence  of 
careful  cultivation,  while  others  were  as  desolate  as  rock  and 
stone  could  make  them,  were  spread  out  before  us  ;  and  at  the 
base  of  all,  Beyrout,  the  city,  the  suburbs,  the  scattered  habita- 
tions, the  orange  groves,  the  mulberry  plantations,  the  patches 
of  grain  and  the  pasture  lands,  forming  a  panorama  strikingly 
picturesque,  and  farther  on,  the  waters  of  the  Mediterranean 
losing  itself  in  the  horizon. 

The  Druses  were  fearful  that  we  should  see  their  women  ; 
but  God  forbid  ! — the  appearance  of  the  matron  of  the  harem, 
with  a  conical  unicorn  shaped  head  dress,  some  three  feet  high, 
was  enough  to  discourage  the  most  romantic.  How  can  these 
people  make  themselves  so  hideous  ?  On  the  other  point  of 
the  mountain  we  found  the  convent  of  the  Maharnars,  another 
religious  sect.  About  a  dozen  of  the  holy  fathers  came  out  to 
show  us  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  temple,  which  was  worth  see- 
ing ;  but  I  infinitely  preferred  the  luxurious  magnificence  of 
the  wild  mountain  scenery.  On  our  way  back  we  were  desir- 
ous of  trying  an  experimental  path  another  way,  and  we  were 
soon  repentant  of  our  wandering.  When  I  look  back  to  the 
descent,  I  can  but  wonder  that  I  am  here  to-day.  I  was  the 


BALL  AT  THE  PASHA*  S  PALACE.  307 


only  one  of  our  party,  save  the  dragoman,  that  did  not  dismount, 
and  having  accomplished  the  feat  I  am  willing  to  back  a  horse 
anywhere  in  Syria. 

Our  visit  to  Beyrout  is  well  timed,  for  we  are  here  in  season 
to  witness  an  eventful  period  in  a  Turkish  city,  a  European  ball, 
given  by  the  Pasha  ;  the  first  ever  known  since  the  flood. 
What  next  ?  Perhaps  an  evening  party  by  the  "mother  of  the 
maids  !"  Of  course  we  were  cordially  greeted  ;  why  not  ?  I 
would  not  have  missed  the  entertainment  for  a  Turkish  dress. 
Some  say  the  ball  is  given  in  order  to  commemorate  the  circum- 
cising of  the  Pasha's  children.  Most  likely  that,  and  to  cele- 
brate the  news  of  peace  and  the  birth  of  a  young  Napoleon, 
for  the  cannon  from  the  fort  have  been  flashing  throughout  the 
day.  Half-past  eight  was  in  the  cards,  but  we  were  in  good 
time  an  hour  later.  The  road  to  the  Seraglio  was  lighted  by 
pine  torches,  in  an  iron  basket  on  the  end  of  a  ten  foot  pole, 
similar  to  those  seen  at  the  stations  when  crossing  the  desert 
in  the  night.  The  glare  was  dazzling,  and  the  numbers  of  Arabs 
and  Turks  watching  the  strange  scene  gave  a  wildness  to  the 
picture  not  easily  portrayed.  Arriving  at  the  palace,  resem- 
bling more  a  country  hotel,  a  Turk  received  our  hat  and  coat 
in  Furopean  style,  giving  us,  however,  an  Arabic  number.  The 
Turkish  aid-de-camp  ushered  us  into  the  presence  of  his  High- 
ness with  European  courtesy.  The  Pasha,  standing  amid  his 
Ministers,  gave  us  a  European  shake  of  the  hand,  while  the 
band — the  very  one  that  came  down  with  us  from  Alexandria, 
were  playing  European  airs.  It  was  evident  the  French  had 
the  management  of  the  entertainment,  for  the  most  trifling  West- 
ern customs  were  observed. 

In  a  side  room  European  chairs  were  arranged  round  a  Eu- 
ropean table,  on  which  were  packs  of  European  cards.  The 


308  GLIMPSE    OF   A   LADY    OF   THE    HAREM. 


opposite  room  was  provided  with  European  segars,  and  iu  a 
closet  you  were  shown  where  you  could  get  a  European  drink. 
One  almost  forgot  that  the  ball  was  given  by  a  Turkish  Pasha. 
Save  the  dress  of  the  few  Turks  present,  the  formality  of  the 
evening,  the  society  of  ladies,  for  there  were  but  twenty  to 
some  two  hundred  gentlemen,  you  could  hardly  realize  that  you 
were  being  entertained  by  a  Mussulman. 

The  Pasha  led  off  the  ball  in  a  promenade  with  the  lady  of 
the  English  Consul ;  and  here,  for  the  first  tune,  the  Pasha  seem- 
ed out  of  his  element.  The  lady  was  embarassed  by  his  clum- 
siness. His  arms  hung  down  by  his  side  like  a  pair  of  tongs, 
and  his  movements  showed  anything  but  grace.  The  dancing 
was  confined  only  to  a  few  ;  the  other  guests  found  amusement 
in  segars  and  cards.  Most  of  the  guests  were  from  Europe. 
America  and  England  were  fairly  overshadowed  by  foreign 
moustaches,  and  their  voices  drowned  by  the  incessant  rattling 
of  foreign  tongues.  Among  those  present  was  the  late  Austrian 
Consul  at  Smyrna,  to  whom  Captain  Ingrahani  gave  a  lesson 
in  international  law,  on  the  subject  of  Koszta  and  his  natural- 
ization papers.  As  the  evening  wore  away  ice  cream  and  sher- 
bet we.re  brought  in,  and  cake  was  handed  round,  all  European- 
ized. 

In  glancing  about  the  high  arched  room  I  accidently  saw  the 
blushing  face  of  a  fair  young  girl  looking  down  from  the  nar- 
row circular  windows  at  the  top  of  the  hall,  upon  the  dancers. 
She  saw  that  she  was  observed,  and  disappeared.  My  curiosity 
was  excited,  for  the  mystery  that  surrounds  the  harem  always 
attracts  our  sex.  I  was  right  in  my  conjecture,  for  in  examin- 
ing more  minutely  the  several  windows  from  a  retired  spot,  fair 
faces  on  all  sides  were  peering  down  upon  us,  some  very  beauti- 
ful. Although  not  a  polking  man,  my  scruples  might  have  been 


THE  PASHA'S  CHILDREN.  309 


overcome  if  the  beautiful  Georgian  whose  eyes  seemed  alive  with 
curiosity,  had  been  among  the  dancers.  Never  before  had  these 
young  girls  seen  so  many  foreign  faces,  and  thinking  their  hiding 
place  secure  from  the  infidel  eyes  of  the  Frank,  they  gazed 
down  upon  us  with  interest  too  intent  to  single  out  those  who 
were  observing  them. 

When  will  the  march  of  intellect  raise  the  Turkish  daughter 
from  her  humiliating  debasement  to  a  position  worthy  of  her 
sex  ?  Not  till  the  hereditary  prejudices  of  their  race  have  burst 
their  prison  bars,  and  civilization  and  morality  have  lightened 
up  the  darkened  chambers  of  their  mind.  I  did  not  remain  to 
supper,  but  from  a  glimpse  at  the  table  it  was  worthy  of  a 
prince.  In  all  these  palaces  you  cannot  but  be  struck  at  the 
clumsy  mixture  of  magnificence  and  meanness,  splendor  and 
squalor — an  inlaid  floor  of  beautiful  polished  wood  or  mosaic 
marble,  with  mopboard  unpainted,  and  walls  unpapered,  money 
exhausted  without  taste,  beautiful  ornaments  in  the  basement, 
and  broken  windows  in  the  hall,  a  boudoir  in  the  interior,  and 
an  uninhabited,  untidy  appearance  without.  Everything  about 
a  Turk  looks  unwashed,  slipshod  and  shabby.  A  part  of  the 
entertainment  was  the  exhibition  of  the  Pasha's  children,  four 
beautiful  boys,  about  ten  years  each,  all  dressed  in  blue,  under 
the  charge  of  a  eunuch  blacker  than  an  African  funeral. 

Beyrout  was  once  an  extensive  commercial  port,  and  is  rich 
in  old  associations,  from  the  richly  laden  angosies  of  days  gone 
by,  to  the  English  war  fleet  that  left  their  sixty-eight  pounders 
in  the  fortress  a  few  years  since.  Beyrout  has  kept  her  name 
from  being  erased  from  the  page  of  history. 

From  Beyrout  we  went  to  Larnaka,  in  the  Island  of  Cypress, 
anchoring  opposite  the  Marina,  on  the  beach.  The  few  hours7 
stoppage  of  the  steamer  enables  you  to  walk  to  the  village,  to 


310  ZENO'S    BIRTH    PLACE. 


visit  the  Greek  cathedral,  which  is  not  so  attractive  as  the  Cath- 
olic, and  to  wander  about  the  old  town  and  the  bazaar.  It  re- 
quires a  powerful  imagination  to  revive  any  interest  in  this 
wretched,  miserable  old  place.  History,  however,  has  managed 
to  keep  its  name  from  sinking,  telling  us  there  was  once  a  noble 
city,  peopled  by  a  brave  and  warlike  race — a  city  made  noted  by 
the  deathbed  of  Cimon,  the  distinguished  Grecian  general,  and 
by  having  been  the  birth  place  of  the  philosopher  Zeno.  A  few 
cotton  bales  and  a  few  sacks  of  grain  came  on  board  as  freight. 
If  this  is  a  specimen  of  the  Island  of  Cypress,  I  am  glad  it  is 
only  a  port  of  call.  Paphos,  I  am  told,  has  more  to  recom- 
mend it ;  for  this  was  the  voluptuous  home  of  Venus,  where 
she  erected  her  hundred  altars  after  she  arose  from  the  sea. 
The  beauty  and  easy  virtue  of  the  women  of  Paphos  have  given 
it  historical  remembrance.  The  frail  fair  one  in  all  lands  is  call- 
ed a  Cyprian.  In  Childe  Harold's  ancestral  hall, 

Paphian  girls  were  known  to  sing  and  smile. 

Paphian  girls  and  Cyprus  wine  spoiled  many  an  ancient  general  ; 
for  the  intoxication  of  both  was  at  times  too  much  for  Roman 
virtue.  Shakespere's  fancy  must  have  been  under  their  influ- 
ence when  he  pictured  Othello's  courtship,  Cassio's  reeling 
through  the  Bazaar,  and  lago's  midnight  wanderings.  I  im- 
agined they  could  take  place  nowhere  else  but  in  Cyprus. 

It  may  have  been  a  beautiful  place  in  its  day  ;  but  now,  al- 
though it.still  produces  the  finest  cotton  in  the  Levant,  its  once 
beautiful  lands  are  barren,  fruitless  and  uninviting.  Under  the 
corroding  mildew  of  the  Turk,  terrible  changes  have  crushed 
the  island.  Even  as  late  as  1822  there  was  a  reign  of  terror 
in  Cyprus.  Twenty-two  thousand  Greeks  were  butchered  in 
cold  blood  by  an  inhuman  Turkish  army. 


CHAPTER   XXXIV. 

LANDING  IN  THE  CRIMEA. 

KAMIESCH,  April  28,  1856. 

The  Passage  from  Constantinople  to  Kamiesch,  and  its  Cost — How  the 
French  manage  the  Post  Office-^Crowds  of  Soldiers,  Sailors,  Ships-of- 
"War,  Gunboats  and  Traders — Scenery  on  the  Bosphorus — The  Allied 
Dead  and  how  they  went  to  the  Grave — How  you  enter  the  Kamiesch 
Bay — American  Ships  in  Port,  and  how  they  were  Admired. 

MY  Australian,  Indian  and  China  correspondence  must  have 
reached  you  some  weeks  since,  but  as  I  have  not  been  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  get  hold  of  a  copy  of  the  HERALD  since  leaving 
Palestine,  I  am  not  up  in  New  York  dates.  By  way  of  Mar- 
seilles I  posted  several  letters  containing  notes  on  Egypt,  Syria 
and  Asia  Minor,  which  I  hope  may  work  their  way  through  the 
barbarous  espionage  of  the  French  post.  Now  I  have  com- 
menced to  throw  off  a  sheet  or  two  on  the  war,  but  afterwards 
shall  not  bore  you  with  my  blottings,  for  I  soon  shall  be  in  the 
land  of  classic  hand  books  and  "  our  correspondents."  By  danc- 
ing attendance  on  the  admirality  at  Constantinople,  after  taking 
the  precautionary  measure  of  getting  my  respectability  endors- 
ed by  the  American  Ambassador,  I  might  have  obtained  a  pas- 
sage to  the  Crimea  in  a  government  transport  for  a  pound  note, 
for  the  only  charge  is  your  board  at  $3  50  per  diem  ;  but  time 
was  an  object,  and  as  I  did  not  wish  to  feel  that  I  was  so  deeply 
obligated  and  especially  favored,  I  paid  some  thirty  dollars  for 


312  SOLDIERS,    SAILORS,    SHIPS    OF    WAR. 


a  passage  in  the  French  mail  boat  which  plies  to  the  French 
Crimean  war  port,  Kamiesch,  twice  a  week  ;  which  takes  pas- 
sengers down  but  will  not  guarantee  a  passage  back,  for  the 
cabin  is  reserved  for  returning  French  officials.  The  English 
have  no  mail  line  to  Balaklava,  but  have  made  arrangements  to 
have  their  letters^  passed  unopened,  through  France.  I  say  un- 
opened, for  any  correspondence  that  falls  into  the  French  post 
bags  goes  under  espionage,  for  the  old  Fouche-Napoleonic  system 
is  strictly  observed  in  the  Crimea.  Private  letters  that  mention 
the  word  war,  or  France,  never  reach  their  address,  and  business 
documents  also  are  thrown  into  the  dead  letter  box.  France 
muzzles  the  news  ;  England  is  more  liberal  ;  but  in  war  times, 
where  human  life  depends  upon  a  despatch,  a  judicious  restric- 
tion may  not  be  out  of  place.  Perhaps  it  would  have  been 
better  for  the  nation  if  her  Crimean  correspondence  had  been 
published  in  England. 

Our  steamer  was  loaded  with  vivacious  French  troops,  of 
different  regiments,  who  had  been  on  the  Scutari  sick  list,  and 
were  sent  down  to  join  their  comrades  at  the  camp.  Jollier  fel- 
lows never  shouldered  musket  ;  they  have  escaped  a  coffin,  and 
show  their  gratitude  by  eating,  singing  and  laughing.  We  left 
Constantinople  about  five  in  the  afternoon,  which  gave  us  a  glo- 
rious view  of  the  city,  magnificent  by  sunset.  Steaming  out  of 
the  Golden  Horn,  when  densely  packed  with  shipping,  without 
chafing  the  boat,  requires  no  little  skill ;  but  our  captain 
managed  it  without  even  the  common  occurrence  of  capsizing 
a  caique.  Never  before  did  old  Stamboul  witness  such  a  forest 
of  masts  and  funnels,  steamers  and  sailing  craft,  transports  and 
men  of  war,  large  and  small,  yachts  and  gunships — there  must 
have  been  a  thousand  sail.  But  this  magnificent  fleet,  com- 
mercial and  political,  was  not  confined  within  the  crowded 


«*,..  M,. 


•  * 

•  9     I 

SCENERY   ON   THE   BOSPHORUS.  313 


compass  of  the  Golden  Horn,  for  the  Bosphorus  was  also  quick 
with  activity.  The  narrow  strip  of  water  dividing  civilized 
Europe  from  heathen  Asia  was  white  with  the  commerce  of  the 
West.  Ships  were  anchored  and  under  way  from  the  place  of 
separation  till  we  had  distanced  land  in  the  Black  Sea. 

The  scenery  on  either  side  of  the  Bosphorus  is  of  the  most 
gorgeous  description.  Turkish  villages  and  Turkish  graveyards, 
where  the  poor  and  the  rich  both  live  and  die — are  studded 
along  the  banks  with  great  profusion.  Constantinople  fades 
away  as  we  turn  the  angle,  and  but  domes  and  minarets,  mosques 
and  towers,  are  still  the  conspicuous  objects  on  every  hand. 
The  Bosphorus,  like  Melrose  Abbey,  should  be  seen  by  moon- 
light, for  it  softens  the  brilliancy  of  the  scene,  making  it  only 
the  more  beautiful.  Entering  the  Black  Sea,  large  Turkish 
forts  frown  sullenly  upon  us,  forts  of  no  great  apparent  strength, 
but  more  than  equal  to  the  destruction  of  any  fleet  that  dared 
the  passage.  No  wonder  that  Nicholas'  penchant  for  this  im- 
portant natural  stronghold  awakened  the  jealousy  of  the  Western 
nations.  It  may  well  be  called  the  tollgate  of  the  East,  for 
nature  has  made  it  an  impassable  barrier  if  in  the  hands  of 
resolute  and  skillful  engineers  and  brave  soldiers.  As  we  quiet- 
ly make  our  way  along,  the  gay  Frenchman  enlivening  the  soli- 
tude of  this  vast  inland  ocean,  I  can  but  realize  that  we  are  on 
the  same  track  of  thousands-  who,  but  a  short  time  before,  pass- 
ed on,  no  more  to  return  forever.  For  many  months  a  fleet  of 
transports  more  extensive  than  any  known  in  history,  has  been 
steaming  over  the  same  race  course  with  the  brave  armies  of  the 
allies,  so  large  a  portion  of  which  have  been  left  to  fertilize  the 
Tartar  vineyards  and  nourish  the  cornfields  of  the  Crimea. 
Husbands  and  fathers,  brothers  and  sons,  private  and  officer — 
youth  and  age,  nobleman  and  commoner,  full  of  life  and  antici- 


314  HOW    YOU    ENTER   THE    KAMIESCH    BAY. 


pated  laurels,  but  a  short  time  ago  crossed  these  same  waters, 
never  again  to  see  their  native  land.  Painful  is  the  contempla- 
tion !  England  never  before  was  such  a  sufferer.  But  Trance 
remembers  Moscow.  The  question  of  colonization  has  been  put 
at  rest.  England  and  France,  between  them,  have  established  a 
colony  in  the  Crimea,  the  colony  of  the  dead ! 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  second  day,  about  thirty-six  hours 
from  Stamboul,  we  again  fell  in  with  shipping,  for  we  were 
approaching  our  destined  port.  Some  delay  occurred  in  finding 
a  birth,  the  harbor  of  Kamiesch  was  so  densely  blocked  up  with 
the  transport  fleet.  Onr  every  side  we  saw  all  the  activity  of  a 
large  commercial  city.  The  entrance  to  the  bay  is  very  con- 
tracted ;  the  channel  itself  is  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  width,  but 
booms  have  been  thrown  across,  leaving  only  one  hundred  feet 
between  them  ;  their  object  being  to  prevent  boats  from  enter- 
ing and  to  assist  in  breaking  the  sea.  The  men  of  war  and 
large  ships  at  anchor  outside  are  also  arranged  as  a  breakwater 
for  the  protection  of  the  harbor  fleet.  The  ships  are  stowed 
some  one  and  four  length  deep,  according  to  the  size,  all  at 
anchor  stern  on  to  the  shore,  the  deep  water  and  mud  bottom 
allowing  them  to  lay  close  in.  The  smaller  transports  are 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  bay  and  the  larger  ships  nearer  its 
entrance.  The  French  transports  only  are  at  Kamiesch  ;  but  at 
Kazatch,  about  a  stone's  throw  from  this  the  English  have  a 
bay  with  almost  as  many  sail.  At  both  anchorages  I  counted 
some  five  hundred  ships,  comprising  the  flags  of  most  of  the 
nations  of  the  West.  Side  by  side  I  saw  three  beautiful  speci- 
mens of  the  shipyards  of  the  North ;  the  French  flag  floated 
from  the  mizen  mast,  but  the  stars  and  stripes  were  at  the  peak. 
Prouder  than  the  one  hundred  and  twenty  gun  of  the  French, 
the  Napoleon  III.,  more  dignified  even  than  the  Agamemnon 


AMERICAN    SHIPS    IN    PORT.  315 


of  the  English,  the  Great  Republic  of  the  Americans  looked  in 
her  unassuming  greatness — the  commander  of  the  fleet. 

The  Great  Republic,  Capt.  Limeburner,  the  Queen  of  Clip- 
pers, Capt.  Zerega,  and  the  Monarch  of  the  Sea,  Capt.  Gardner, 
were  anchored  side  by  side,  and  I  never  felt  prouder  of  my  coun- 
try than  in  witnessing  these  magnificent  clippers  from  New 
York,  so  superior  to  any  of  the  transports  of  other  nations. 
English  and  French,  Russian  and  Sardinian  officers,  high  in 
rank  and  position,  covered  with  orders  and  medals,  Turkish 
commanders  and  Tartar  princes,  all  have  seen  them,  and  in  see- 
ing are  forced  to  admire.  America  never  sent  better  represen- 
tatives abroad — the  peaceful  messenger  of  commerce  is  always 
welcomed,  while  we  only  hail  the  ship  of  war  as  a  State  neces- 
sity. The  Captain  tells  me  that  there  is  little  danger  here,  they 
lie  so  close  together,  on  a  mud  bottom  ;  but  it  would  seem  to 
me  that  one  of  those  terrible  storms  that  sometimes  have  con- 
vulsed these  seas  would  involve  the  entire  fleet  in  one  common 
wreck.  Thus  far  there  have  been  few  accidents. 

I  saw  several  hulks,  among  others,  the  ship  Cortez,  of  Bath, 
piled  upon  the  beach  ;  but  the  few  wrecks  occasioned  may  be 
accounted  for  by  the  continued  absence  of  the  Black  Sea  gales. 
The  Champion  of  Boston,  is  also  here,  loading  bronze  and  brass 
cannon  from  the  Malakoff  for  Marseilles  ;  and  the  Hartly,  also 
for  the  same  port ;  the  Titan,  of  Boston,  has  just  sailed  for 
France.  All  the  American  ships  are  in  the  employ  of  the  French 
government,  the  English  having  chartered  no  American  trans- 
ports. During  the  dull  times,  the  transport  charters  have 
proved  a  splendid  business  for  such  of  our  ships  as  were  so  for- 
tunate as  to  get  employment.  The  Great  Republic  must  have 
paid  for  herself  by  this  time  ;  but  the  game  is  now  up,  and  a 
thousand  sail  of  transports  will  shortly  find  their  way  back  to 


316  KAMIESCH,    CALLED    "  CITY    OF   THIEVES.'' 


assist  in  deadening  freights  and  consequently  depreciating  ship- 
ping property.  There  have  been  several  individual  instances 
where  the  government  has  enriched  the  shipowner  by  a  single 
charter.  Among  others  mentioned,  the  British  ship  Gertrude 
was  taken  up  at  thirty  shillings  per  ton  for  a  powder  magazine, 
and  although  the  rate  was  afterwards  reduced,  two  years  em- 
ployment at  Kazatch  must  have  built  half  a  dozen  such  craft. 
Many  of  the  almost  insolvent  English  steam  mail  lines  have  es- 
caped from  bankruptcy  by  this  unexpected  employment.  Like 
receiving  a  remittance  the  morning  the  note  came  due,  govern- 
ment employment  was  just  in  time  for  several  of  the  steam  com- 
panies, the  general  screw  company  among  the  rest.  Without 
English  steamers  for  towing  their  transports,  the  French  would 
have  been  sadly  off,  having  few  steamships  of  their  own ;  on 
this  side,  the  French  transport  flag  is  hoisted  at  the  mast  head 
of  nearly  every  steamer.  These  transports,  under  charter,  are 
actively  engaged  in  embarking  horses,  troops  and  cannon.  The 
soldiers  are  everywhere  assisting  the  sailors  in  getting  off  the 
ships.  On  shore,  officers  and  privates  are  hurrying  to  and  fro, 
and  working  gangs  of  men  are  employed  in  piling  up  shot, 
transporting  cannon  and  in  preparing  for  embarkation.  An 
idea  of  the  extent  of  the  siege  is  formed  the  moment  you  begin 
to  walk  about  the  streets  of  the  settlement  of  Kamiesch,  called 
in  the  parlance  of  the  Crimea  the  "  City  of  Thieves."  It  is  ut- 
terly impossible  to  realize  that  two  years  ago  the  Bay  was  as 
silent  as  the  village  was  vacant,  neither  ship  nor  house,  man  nor 
beast,  save  a  few  Tartar  farmers,  were  ever  seen  there  ;  and  yet 
it  has  already  lived  several  ages  in  history.  The  French  array 
are  packing  up  everything  they  can  lay  their  hands  on,  every 
old  cannon,  every  spare  shot,  every  piece  of  steel,  every  gun 


FRENCH    ARMY    EVACUATING   THE    CRIMEA.  317 


carriage,  every  used  up  musket — even  old  barrel  hoops  and  bar- 
rel staves,  are  being  piled  up  to  be  taken  away.  It  is  evident 
that  no  fortunes  are  to  be  made  in  following  in  the  wake  of  the 
allied  armies,  as  was  the  case  when  our  troops  left  Mexico.  So 
my  credits  must  remain  in  the  envelope.  A  line  of  coaches  is 
established  to  Balaklava,  I  learn  to-day,  and  I  will  write  from 
there. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

BALAKLAVA,  April  30,  1856. 

The  Miles,  Horses,  Roads  and  General  Travel  to  Balaklava — Extent  of 
the  Allied  Lines — A  First  Look  at  Sebastopol  in  Ruins — her  Eastern 
Fortresses  and  Sand  Bags — Thoughts  on  the  Battle  Fields — Energy 
and  Good  Breeding  of  the  Russian  Officers — How  the  Allied  Troops 
Agreed. 

. "  I  MISSED  the  'bus  at  Kameisch,  and  was  obliged  to  hire  a  pri- 
vate team  to  take  me  over.  I  paid  for  a  horse,  but  found  a 
mule  waiting  for  me  at  the  cafe, ;  however,  in  two  hours  and  a 
half  we  made  Balaklava,  the  Kamiesch  of  the  English  army. 
The  engineers  have  built  a  splendid  military  road  between  the 
two  posts  and  macadamized  the  entire  distance.  Now  the 
weather  is  dry,  and  clouds  of  dust  darken  the  air  ;  but  the 
least  rain  makes  it  sloppy  and  disgusting.  Once  out  of  Kam- 
iesch, we  got  an  inkling  of  camp  life.  As  far  as  we  could  see, 
tents  and  huts  were  dotted  over  the  hills  and  plains,  both  sides 
of  our  highway  were  studded  with  the  local  habitations  of  the 
allies.  Artillery  wagons,  mule  carriages  and  cartloads  of  shot 
and  shell  were  continually  passing,  sometimes  the  train  would 
extend  for  miles.  Cannon  balls  aud  broken  shell  were  scattered 
along  the  gutters,  some  of  which  had  fallen  from  the  wagons, 
others  lay  where  they  fell  from  the  guns.  The  first  entrench- 
ments of  the  French  when  they  landed  are  of  the  most  for- 
midable character.  They  did  not  intend  to  be  driven  again  into 
their  ships  without  a  struggle. 


EXTENT    OF   THE   ALLIED    LINES.  319 


Approaching  Balaklava  we  began  to  feel  more  and  more  the 
immense  extent  of  the  encampment.  Before  I  came  here,  I 
imagined  that  I  could  ride  through  the  English  and  French 
camps  in  an  hour,  and  had  pictured  it  a  large  city  of  tents.  I 
never  for  a  moment  supposed  that  instead  of  one  gigantic  en- 
campment, there  were  some  hundreds — instead  of  covering 
acres  of  ground,  it  was  scattered  over  an  era  of  some  two  hun- 
dred square  miles.  From  the  heights  above  the  settlement,  I 
could  just  reach  some  of  the  distant  camps  with  a  glass. 

I  am  most  fortunate  in  finding  a  home  on  board  the  beautiful 
New  York  clipper,  the  Ocean  Herald.  She  has  been  employed 
for  over  a  year  by  the  French,  and  has  made  several  passages 
to  the  several  Black  Sea  and  Mediterranean  ports.  She  is  now 
discharging  hay  for  the  ambulance  department,  after  which  she 
takes  troops  to  France.  Captain  Furber,  so  well  known  in  the 
North  Atlantic  packet  trade,  having  been  here  so  many  times 
during  the  progress  of  the  siege,  is  well  posted  on  Crimean 
matters,  and  seems  to  be  very  much  at  home  in  the  French 
camp.  Already  I  have  got  acquainted  with  several  of  the  French 
officers,  all  of  whom  are  particularly  courteous  to  Americans. 
Their  hospitality  comes  in  a  substantial  way  ;  once  acquainted, 
they  can't  do  too  much  for  one,  inviting  you  to  their  camp,  fur- 
nishing you  with  their  horses,  sending  their,  servants  to  accom- 
pany you,  explaining  in  detail  all  that  you  may  wish  to  learn 
of  the  battle  fields.  I  have  letters  to  several  English  officers  ; 
but  you  might  as  well  look  for  e  fish  in  the  ocean  or  a  bird  in 
the  forest.  The  distance  between  the  camps  are  so  great,  the 
difficulty  of  moving  about  except  on  horseback,  and  the  hurry 
and  bustle  of  those  who  might  inform  you,  prevent  me  from 
finding  them  out,  and  as  it  is,  I  find  I  am  well  housed  and  well 
cared  for. 


320  FIRST    LOOK    AT    SEBASTOPOL    IN    RUINS. 


Yesterday,  in  company  with  a  Russian  prince  and  several 
French  officers,  I  visited  Sebastopol,  and  my  head  is  too  full  of 
what  I  saw  to  describe  it.  I  was  not  at  all  prepared  to  see 
such  desolation  and  destruction,  nor  was  I  prepared  to  find  that 
those  high  sounding  names  that  have  been  ringing  in  my  ears, 
week  after  week,  as  the  mail  came  through- — the  Mamelon,  the 
Malakoff  and  the  Redan,  were  only  piles  of  dirt  and  bags  of 
sand,  and  baskets  of  earthwork,  all  strewn  about  in  the  most 
complicated  confusion.  Looking  from  the  Malakoff,  the  once 
beautiful  city  of  Sebastopol,  whose  eligible  site  for  a  naval 
arsenal  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  Emperor  by  a  native 
of  France,  and  whose  wonderful  forts  were  planned  by  an 
English  engineer,  is  only  a  heap  of  ruins,  resembling  more  an 
old  Syrian  or  Egyptian  town,  destroyed  by  the  corroding  influ- 
ence of  time,  than  a  powerful  fortress,  reduced  by  a  war  of 
yesterday.  The  Russians  burnt  and  leveled  their  habitations 
when  they  retired  to  their  impregnable  position  on  the  north 
side,  as  at  Moscow.  They  destroyed  all  but  the  beautiful  sand- 
stone barracks,  a  church  or  two,  a  monument,  and  those  won- 
derful docks.  But  what  the  Russians  left  the  allied  armies  have 
broken  and  torn  in  pieces.  Such  utter  desolation  I  cannot  pic- 
ture. Save  the  green  grass  shooting  out  from  broken  shells  and 
cannon  balls,  and  blocks  of  granite,  the  sole  relics  of  beautiful 
flower  gardens,  there  is  no  vestige  of  recent  habitation.  Sebas- 
topol is  a  wreck,  more  wild  and  desolate  than  Lisbon  could  have 
been  after  the  earthquake,  or  Copenhagen  after  the  bombard- 
ment. The  palace  of  the  prince  and  the  cottage  of  the  peasant, 
the  convents,  the  churches  and  the  library,  the  public  buildings 
and  private  dwellings,  are  naught  but  piles  of  broken  stone  and 
plaster,  huge  heaps  of  rubbish  scattered  over  the  entire  surface 
of  the  city.  The  sunken  ships  across  the  mouth  of  the  harbor 


STRENGTH    OF   THE   RUSSIAN   DEFENCES.  321 


and  in  the  bay  are  discovered  by  their  protruding  spars  above 
the  water — the  Twelve  Apostles  the  most  conspicuous  of  all. 

On  the  low  land  about  the  water,  huge  anchors  and  immense 
piles  of  ammunition  are  piled  up,  ready  for  shipment ;  but,  save 
the  stranger  who  visits  the  fallen  city,  and  the  occasional  bark- 
ing of  the  unclaimed  dog,  all  is  silent  as  a  burial  ground,  no 
better  representation  could  paint  the  terrific  ravages  of  war. 
Our  Russian  friend  gazed  upon  his  once  happy  home,  and  turned 
away  and  wept  like  a  child.  It  was  pitiful  to  see  him  in  his 
strength  and  manliness  so  heartbroken  and  wretched  in  his  con- 
templation. It  was  heartless  to  hear  the  French  colonel,  who 
accompanied  us,  make  so  light  of  the  Russian's  wretchedness  ; 
but  he  would  have  his  jest,  no  matter  how  keen  the  shaft.  On 
the  battle  field,  hi  the  trenches,  in  the  Malakoff,  at  death's  door, 
the  Frenchman  will  have  his  joke  ;  but  it  was  not  French  polite- 
ness to  continually  remind  the  Russian  officer  of  his  defeat.  The 
Russian  was  born  a  gentlemen,  but  the  Frenchman  had  risen 
from  the  ranks. 

If  I  were  asked  what  struck  me  most  forcibly  in  riding  about 
and  around  the  city,  I  should  say  at  once  the  astonishing 
strength  and  engineering  ability  of  the  Russian  defences.  No 
wonder  they  baffled  the  pluck  of  the  British  and  the  dash  of 
the  French  for  so'  long  a  time. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  when  the  allies  landed  at  Eupa- 
toria  in  the  autumn  of  1854,  Sebastopol  was  only  fortified  by 
sea,  not  a  bastion  was  thrown  up  to  prevent  it  from  inland  in- 
vasion. The  battle  of  the  Alma  was  fought  where  the  Zouave 
soldiers  so  distinguished  themselves,  and  where  the  English  army, 
the  Frenchman  says,  was  not  up  to  time,  but  when  once  at  it, 
he  will  have  to  admit  that  they  fought  like  tigers  for  the  victory, 
although  history  records  that  through  the  imperfections  of  their 


322  THOUGHTS    ON    THE    BATTLE    FIELD. 


ambulance  corps,  hundreds  -of  brave  soldiers  who  so  boldly  had 
plunged  into  the  fight,  were  left  for  two  days  and  nights  to 
welter  in  their  wounds  upon  the  battle  field  before  assistance 
was  at  hand.  Not  till  after  the  battle  of  the  Alma,  when  Lord 
Raglan  fell  across  the  track  of  the  Russian's  rear,  when  the  allies 
passed  over  to  Balaklava — not  till  after  the  memorable  battle  of 
the  25th  of  October,  where  Lord  Cardigan,  obeying  orders  that 
nobody  fathers,  rode  the  death  ride  at  the  head  of  the  Light 
Brigade,  the  boldest  deed  in  history,  plunging  on  to  almost 
certain  destruction,  for  more  than  half  the  regiment  was  cut 
down,  horses  and  men,  with  Russian  shot,  and  all  would  have 
perished  but  for  the  rescue  of  the  French — not  till  after  the  still 
more  bloody  battle  of  the  Inkermann,  where  the  stream  of  life 
flowed  as  swiftly  as  the  river,  where  the  flower  of  England's 
army,  the  Guards,  led  on  by  a  royal  Duke,  fell  like  hail  upon 
the  battle  field,  and  where,  on  that  memorable  5th  of  Novem- 
ber, the  allies  must  have  been  swept  from  the  Crimea  in  spite 
of  all  their  bravery,  by  the  overwhelming  force  of  the  Russians, 
but  for  the  mistake  so  fatal  to  Liprandi,  a  large  portion  of  his 
army  losing  itself  in  the  mist — not  till  after  these  several  Water- 
loo and  Austerlitz  battles  had  been  fought,  did  the  Russians 
commence  the  wonderful  fortifications  which,  even  in  their  ruins, 
astonish  every  beholder. 

Their  extent,  the  immensity  of  the  undertaking,  the  wealth  of 
material  and  the  vastness  of  the  labor,  the  rapidity  of  their  con- 
struction and  the  almost  miraculous  engineering  ability  displayed, 
are  the  thoughts  uppermost  in  the  mind  "as  you  gaze  over  the 
long  range  of  ramparts  from  the  Malakoff  to  the  Flagstaff 
battery.  Before  the  Inkermann,  the  city  was  only  defended  by 
water,  not  a  single  cannon  defended  its  rear  ;  and  hence  the 
terrible  energy  of  the  Russian. 


THK    MALAKOFF.  323 


The  ablest  of  the  Russian  engineers  were  called  to  council, 
but  three  mouths  were  required  to  complete  the  defences. 
Menschikoff  was  disheartened,  but  an  engineer,  unknown  to 
fame,  with  the  promptness  worthy  of  Napoleon's  observation 
at  the  defence  of  Paris,  offered  to  accomplish  the  task  in  a  fort- 
night, if  they  would  only  supply  the  men.  They  did  so  ;  and 
the  name  of  Totdlebeu  shines  more  brilliantly  than  that  of  any 
other  individual  in  all  the  armies.  Of  course  the  young  lieuten- 
ant was  made  a  general ;  and  he  deserved  it,  for  French  and 
English  alike  all  testify  to  his  wonderful  skill  in  constructing 
earthworks  sufficiently  strong  to  withstand  such  a  terrible  fire 
for  so  long  a  time.  While  standing  on  the  ruined  ramparts  of 
the  Malakoff,  the  French  officers  pointed  out  the  midday  attack, 
the  surprise,  the  attempted  rescue,  and  the  two  mistakes  of  the 
engineer — first  the  weakness  of  the  place  where  the  Frenchmen 
stormed  ;  second,  the  enclosed  part  towards  Sebastopol. 

Had  it  remained  open  as  in  the  Redan,  the  Russians  might 
have  re-taken  it  in  the  face  of  the  French  ;  as  it  was,  Bosquet 
saw  his  advantage.  "  We  are  in  the  Malakoff  and  shall  remain 
there,"  was  the  impulsive  language  of  the  French  officer.  Na- 
poleon the  modern,  like  his  uncle,  rewards  such  men.  Again, 
I  was  shown  where  the  English  lay  swimming  in  thick  pools  of 
blood  along  side  of  their  enemies  in  the  ditches  of  the  Redan. 
Russell  describes  the  scene.  What  can  be  more  horrible  ?  I 
picked  up  a  saddle  bag  full  of  the  murderous  grape.  > 

I  do  not  care  to  dwell  upon  the  harrowing  details.  If  one 
accident  on  a  railway  creates  such  harrowing  sympathies,  how 
much  more  horrible  does  the  contemplation  make  the  scene 
where  thousands  were  swept  away  by  that  terrible  shower  of 
grape  !  Those  outliving  the  storm  are  the  heroes  of  the  age, 
the  chance  of  life  was  nothing.  I  went  over  the  trenches,  and 


S24  THE    CRIMEA,    THE    GARDEN    OF    HUSSIA. 


saw  the  rifle  pits,  where,  day  after  day,  night  after  night,  rain- 
ing, freezing,  cold  and  supperless  for  months,  the  soldiers  of  both 
armies  worked  till  death  or  the  hospital  demanded  them.  Strange 
enough  are  our  reflections  in  walking  about  those  zigzag  lines, 
where  so  many  have  perished  by  exposure,  want,  and  the  sortie 
of  the  Russe.  Every  night  some  new  victims  were  added  to 
the  burial  list ;  and  yet  the  field  of  battle  has  ever  been  the 
field  of  jesting  with  the  actors.  Many  are  the  anecdotes  re- 
lated of  the  riflemen.  There  was  one,  a  crack  shot,  who  did 
not  relish  his  breakfast  unless  he  had  potted,  that  is  the  hor- 
rible term,  half  a  dozen  Russians.  Show  him  a  Russian,  no 
matter  how  far,  providing  he  was  within  range,  and  crack  went 
the  deadly  Minnie,  and  there  was  certain  to  be  one  less  of  the 
enemy.  The  Russians  have  contested  every  inch  of  ground 
upon  the  Crimea.  Step  by  step  they  have  retired,  leaving 
naught  but  huge  graveyards  behind  them.  - 

Returning  by  the  Warrenzoff  road  again,  I  saw  the  huts  of 
the  thousands  of  encampments.  The  Sardinians,  the  French, 
and  the  English,  the  Turks  are  mostly  gone.  The  hill  country 
had  been  once  almost  as  fertile  as  the  plain,  and  the  plain  shows 
the  hillocks  of  the  vineyard  and  the  furrows  of  the  grain  field. 
The  Crimea  has  ever  been  the  garden  of  Russia.  Pelissier's 
headquarters  are  by  no  means  extensive,  and  Codrington  most 
certainly  did  not  live  in  a  palace.  Camp  life  is  far  from  pleas- 
ant. Give  me  a  cabin  in  an  American  clipper,  in  preference 
to  the  soldier's  table  of  the  Commander-in-chief.  General  Cod- 
rington is  liked  by  both  armies,  but  Lord  Raglan  they  abuse 
even  in  his  grave.  The  French  and  English  are  not  friends. 
Peace  has  been  confirmed,  and  now  we  begin  to  see  the  national 
antipathies  come  out.  I  know  it  must  be  so.  Centuries  of  en- 
mity cannot  be  cemented  so  soon.  Officers  and  soldiers  here 


ENGLISH    AND    FRENCH.  325 


are  full  of  recriminations,  and  it  is  painful  to  see  how  soon  they 
have  forgotten  that  they  have  fought  and  bled  together — that 
their  brother  comrades  are  buried  in  the  same  extensive  burial 
grounds.  Now  I  believe  they  would  fight  each  other  as  readily 
as  they  fought  the  Russians. 


CHAPTER   XXXVI. 

BALAKLAVA,  May  2,  1856. 

How  Balaklava  Port  Could  have  been  Defended — What  it  is  and  what 
it  was — Our  Trade  with  England  and  the  East — What  the  English 
and  French  Leave  to  the  Russians — The  Glories  of  Sardinia. 

BALAKLAVA,  from  whatever  point  you  view  it,  is  strikingly 
picturesque.  The  bay  is  completely  landlocked,  like  the  harbor 
of  Port  Jackson  ;  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  is  so  carefully 
'concealed,  that  the  first  navigators  of  this  wonderful  sea  must 
have  frequently  passed  the  high  border  land  without  discovering 
the  little  anchorage.  Approaching  Kadikoi  from  Kamiesch, 
the  little  bay  breaks  suddenly  out  of  the  mountains,  their  peaks 
projecting  high  above  the  shipping.  The  picture  is  strangely 
novel.  You  look  in  vain  for  some  outlet  for  the  water.  Xaught 
can  be  seen  but  the  transport  fleet  and  the  massive  ranges  that 
enclose  it.  The  old  Genoese  fort  caps  the  tallest  of  the  moun- 
tains, and  is  in  a  fair  state  of  preservation.  Well  manned,  the 
little  Greek  town  of  Balaklava  could  never  have  been  molested 
from  the  water  side.  The  position,  like  the  Bosphorus,  is  a 
natural  stronghold.  Had  the  Russians  anticipated  the  arrival 
of  the  armies,  by  sinking  a  ship  or  two  across  the  mouth  of  the 
two  'bays,  Kamiesch  and  Balaklava — it  must  have  entirely 
changed  the  tactics  of  the  allies  ;  but  it  might  not  have  been 
so  well  in  the  end  for  the  Russians  The  hill  country  encircling 


•t 

BALAKLAVA,    WHAT    IT    WAS,    AND    IS.  327 


the  anchorage  reminds  me  forcibly  of  the  ragged  ranges  in 
Palestine,  equally  sterile  and  equally  magnificent  in  their  dreary, 
cheerless  sterility.  There  is  the  same  everlasting,  uncultivated 
wilderness  of  rocks,  a  vast  fragmentary  collection  of  stone  and 
earth,  with  nothing  but  the  lilliputian  sheet  of  water  at  the  base 
—  a  kind  of  Loch  Katrine  among  the  Trossachs,  or  Lake  George 
of  the  American  Highlands. 

Two  years  have  hardly  gone  since  Balaklava  was  a  peasant's 
solitude.  A  few  Greeks  and  a  few  of  the  more  enterprising 
Tartars  occupied  the  little  white  village  of  Houses  under  the 
mountain,  contented  with  their  peaceful  and  solitary  life.  What 
little  commerce  arose  out  of  the  cultivation  of  the  rich  plains 
in  their  vicinity,  and  in  the  supplying  Sebastopol  and  the  sur- 
rounding township  with  fish,  was  amply  sufficient  for  the  suste- 
nance of  the  small  community.  Russia  allowed  no  strangers 
to  visit  the  towns  by  sea  ;  even  Russian  ships  were  not  permit- 
ted to  enter.  With  a  ukase  that  none  could  break,  the  Emperor 
locked,  with  his  iron  hand,  the  gate  of  the  port  But  war  was 
declared ;  Eupatoria  did  not  answer,  and  when  the  army 
marched  across  the  Crimea  and  occupied  the  heights,  the  lock 
was  broken,  and  men-of-war,  steamships  and  merchantmen 
anchored  in  the  secluded  haunts  of  the  wild  fowl,  until  the  bay 
was  full,  a  hundred  ships  and  more.  There  are  eighty  here,  now, 
lying  as  thick  as  timber  in  a  yard  *  and,  as  martial  law  reigns 
throughout  the  Crimea,  every  lamp  must  be  out  at  ten  o'clock  ; 
for,  in  the  exciting  tunes,  it  would  have  been  terrific  to  have 
seen  the  devouring  element  consuming  their  only  means  of 
escape.  For  there  was  a  time,  before  the  Balaklava  and  the 
Inkermann  affairs,  and  by  some  afterwards,  when  intelligent 
military  men,  absent  from  the  theatre  of  action,  with  maps 
before  them,  conscientiously  believed  that  every  officer  and  sol- 


328  TROOPS    EMBARKING. 


dier  of  the  allied  army  would  die  fighting  on  the  battle  field, 
by  sickness  in  the  camp,  or  be  driven  at  the  poiut  of  the  bayonet 
into  the  sea.  Said  they,  "  What  can  bravery  do  with  such  un- 
equal odds — a  hundred  men  to  one — in  killing  these  Russians  ? 
'Tis  the  same  as  brushing  musquitoes  off  your  face."  "  And  as 
certain  as  the  sun  shines,"  was  often  remarked,  "  the  army  will 
perish  and  be  destroyed.  Disease  and  the  climate  will  hasten 
the  death  of  those  who  escape  the  cannon,  the  musket  and  the 
sword." 

Remembering  the  solitude  of  the  Tartar  town  before,  you  are 
the  more  struck  with  its  bustling,  restless,  rattling  activity  now, 
for  in  all  the  stirring  whirl  of  commerce  it  is  a  miniature  Lon- 
don ;  ships  are  discharging  their  cargoes  of  grain  from  the 
Turkish  ports,  and  hay  and  provisions,  ammunition  and  the 
trappings  of  war  are  being  tumbled  out  as  if  the  siege  was  not 
finished,  the  peace  not  proclaimed.  It  seems  needless  expense, 
yet  for  want  of  some  one  to  give  an-  order,  many  of  these  things 
will  be  piled  out  only  to  be  damaged  and  destroyed,  and  then 
forsooth  reloaded  and  taken  away,  perhaps  in  the  ship  that 
brought  them.  Every  day  steam  transports  are  arriving  with 
cattle  from  the  Sea  of  Marmora  and  other  places,  and  every  day 
I  see  them  swing  out  to  sea  dozens  of  them  that  have  died  upon 
the  voyage.  The  army  consumes  still  an  enormous  amount  of 
fresh  stuff.  From  morning  till  late  in  the  day  train  after  train 
of  cars  are  despatched  to  the  front  with  provisions  for  the  men, 
and  large  loads  of  grain  and  feed  for  the  horses  and  the  mules. 
Troops  are  continually  embarking,  but  thus  far  the  ranks  are  still 
full,  save  where  they  were  thinned  by  death.  Yesterday  two 
regiments  embarked  for  Canada,  in  the  Resolute  and  Simoon. 
The  Ninth,  Thirty  seventh,  Seventeenth,  Sixty-third  and  Sixty- 
second  are  under  orders  for  the  same  station — five  regiments  in 


BAMBLES  ABOUT  BALAKLAVA.  329 


all  from  the  Crimea.  Like  the  Bermuda  fleet,  perhaps,  it  is 
another  shake  of  the  fist  at  Brother  Jonathan.  Never  mind  ;  let 
them  blow  off  a  little  of  their  disappointment  at  the  unsatisfac- 
tory result  of  the  war — in  London  editorials  against  America, 
and  in  grand  reviews  at  Spithead.  It  will  do  no  harm.  So  long  as 
our  annual  international  commerce  amounts  to  some  one  hundred 
millions  sterling,  the  difficulty  between  England  and  America 
will  only  be  a  war  of  words  between  the  columns  of  the  NEW 
YORK  HERALD  and  the  double  leaders  of  the  London  Times. 

I  have  found  much  amusement  in  roaming  about  the  wharves, 
for — don't  be  surprised — England's  industry  is  seen  wherever 
you  may  care  to  look — wharves  and  piers  ;  warehouses  for  the 
different  regiments,  marked  and  numbered ;  boats  for  the  offi- 
cials ;  wagons,  carts,  barrows  and  all  the  English  contrivances 
for  transport ;  telegraphic  stations  ;  a  floating  machine  shop, 
complete,  where,  in  time  of  action,  some  thirty  engineers  were 
employed,  sometimes  night  as  well  as  day,  repairing  the  instru- 
ments of  war — a  most  extensive  affair,  comprising  all  the  inge- 
nious contrivances  of  modern  times,  put  up  in  England,  and 
steamed  out  to  Balaklava,  where  she  has  done  the  army  no  little 
service  ;  and  by  and  by  she  will  steam  back  again  as  perfect  as 
she  came,  a  curiosity  well  worth  visiting.  The  French  at  Kam- 
iesch  had  small  portable  forges  arranged  in  long  sheds  on  the 
shore,  where  they  were  busily  turning  out  bolts  and  staples  for 
the  carpenters  putting  up  the  stalls  for  the  cavalry  horses.  A 
little  further  on  another  steamer  is  anchored,  as  far  up  the  bay 
as  the  water  permits,  a  beautiful  boat,  and  this  was  the  floating 
bakery,  where  ship  bread  and  -biscuit  were  turned  out  for  the 
army  by  wholesale,  another  instance  unknown  in  the  history  of 
a  siege  where  a  London  bakehouse  is  sent  out  under  steam  to 
feed  the  regiments  of  a  distant  war  commissariat.  But,  extra- 


330  WHAT   THE    ENGLISH    LEAVE. 


ordinary  as  all  these  contrivances  may  appear,  they  fall  into 
utter  insignificance  in  comparison  with  the  Balaklava  railway. 
No  wonder  that  the  Tartar  peasants  and  the  Cossack  horse- 
men, with  eyes  and  mouth  outstretched,  stand  gaping  at  the 
remarkable  spectacle  ;  no  wonder  that  the  Russian  lady  and 
the  country  maiden  stop  their  oddly  enough  made  vehicle,  with 
its  four  horses  abreast,  to  gaze  upon  so  strange  a  scene  ;  no 
wonder  that  this  mushroom  community  from  so  many  lands 
are  attracted  by  the  continual  rattling  of  several  locomotives 
over  as  good  a  railroad  as  you  can  find  between  the  towns  of 
England,  for  it  is  a  most  remarkable  sight,  England  going  to 
war  in  Russia  by  railroad,  and  one  of  her  own  constructions  at 
that.  More  than  anything  else,  these  wholesale  arrangements 
attract  alike  the  Russian  and  the  French,  and  when  we  reflect 
that  engines  and  engineers,  rails,  and  "  navvies"  to  lay  them 
down  ;  sleepers  and  railway  carriages,  coal  and  all  the  necessi- 
ties for  a  complete  establishment  were  brought  out  from  Eng- 
land ;  the  road  graded  by  British  workmen  ;  the  stations  con- 
structed by  British  carpenters  out  of  British  material,  all  for 
the  transportation  of  ammunition,  provisions,  forage  and  the 
general  supplies  of  the  British  army,  from  their  port  of  arrival 
to  the  lines  in  front  ;  when  we  contemplate  all  these  things, 
even  those  who  have  just  arrived  from  all  the  tearing  activity  of 
•  the  West,  can  but  express  astonishment  at  the  substantiality 
and  enterprise  of  the  arrangements.  Some  say  that  the  road 
is  to  be  sold  to  the  Russians  ;  others,  that,  like  everything  else, 
it  is  going  back  to  England. 

Judging  from  present  movements,  the  English,  like  the 
French,  do  not  intend  to  leave  anything  behind  them  but  their 
graveyards  and  their  remembrances.  Old  books  and  old  uni- 
forms, broken  muskets  and  pieces  of  gun  carriages,  cannon  from 


RUSSIAN    REVIEW    OF    THE    BRITISH    ARMY.  331 


the  Redan,  anchors  from  Sebastopol,  and  shot  and  shell  unlim- 
ited cover  the  piers  ready  for  shipment.  Near  our  ship  some 
thousands  of  the  Tartar  peasantry  are  piling  up  their  traps, 
and  several  transports  are  getting  up  steam  to  take  them  to  the 
colony  provided  by  the  Sultan.  Fearful  that  their  sympathy 
with  the  allies  will  bring  punishment  from  the  Russians,  they 
gladly  accept  the  beggarly  hospitality  of  the  Turk. 

Ships,  as  I  before  observed,  are  daily  coming  in  with  supplies. 
A  day  or  two  since  the  Celestial  Breeze  arrived  direct  from 
New  York,  with  a  cargo  of  flour  for  the  English  commissariat, 
and  yesterday  she  was  so  fortunate  as  to  get  a  charter  from  the 
French,  for  two  months,  at  eighteen  thousand  francs  per  month, 
to  embark  horses  for  Algiers.  This  ship  and  the  Ocean  Her- 
ald, before  mentioned,  are  the  -only  Americans  at  Balaklava. 
Everything  around  me  goes  to  show  the  gigantic  preparations 
for  the  next  campaign.  England  this  time  was  really  in  ear- 
nest. Her  army  appeared  at  the  review  before  the  Russian 
commander  in  a  complete  new  suit  of  uniform,  new  horses,  new 
mules,  new  supplies  of  ammunition,  new  huts  for  encamping  ;  and 
a  most  liberal  supply  of  eatables  more  extensive  than  ever  be- 
fore fell  to  the  lot  of  armies,  has  been  supplied  in  extravagant 
profusion,  and  all  for  naught,  for  the  war  was  at  an  end.  The 
supplies  have  come  too  late.  England's  army  is  equipped  in  a 
Sunday  garb,  but  France  shows  her  poverty  in  the  camp.  The 
one  appears  fresli  and  ready  for  action,  but  the  other  looks 
seedy  and  uncared  for.  The  tables  are  simply  turned.  At 
the  commencement  the  French  shamed  the  English  in  all  their 
commissariat  arrangements,  then  they  had  plenty  to  eat  and 
drink,  good  tents  and  warm  clothing,  and  a  transport  corps  to 
carry  their  wounded  from  the  field  and  their  dead  to  burial, 
while  Russell's  account  of  the  English  camp  was  just  the  reverse. 


'Jt  •'. 

*  * 

332  THE    GLORIES    OF   SARDINIA. 


Now  tne  French  show  as  much,  if  not  more,  exhaustion  than 
thie  Russians.  The  army  looks  needy  as  well  as  hungry,  and 
requires  an  entirely  new  outfit. 

Little  Sardinia  has  won  more  laurels  than  all  the  rest  in  her 
fitness  for  war.  Her  little  army  of  15,000  men,  a  part  of  which 
have  embarked,  has  been  the  admiration  of  all.  Their  commis- 
sariat department  is  perfect,  their  huts,  in  construction,  material 
and  comfort,  are  superior  even  to  the  English.  Their  horses, 
their  artillery,  their  ambulance  corps,  all  show  efficiency  and 
thorough  organization.  The  officers  are  splendid  looking  fellows, 
and  the  men  are  strong  and  healthy.  Their  dress  is  most  be- 
coming, uniforms  all  new,  and,  rain  or  shine,  wherever  you  meet 
a  Sardinian,  you  can  but  notice  how  well  he  is  got  up.  Sardi- 
nia is  disgusted  at  the  peace,  so  is  England  ;  but  Russia,  France 
and  Turkey,  for  the  present,  are  satisfied  ;  and  Austria  and 
Prussia  have  managed  to  ring  themselves  into  the  Parisian  con- 
gress, occupying  an  important  part  without  a  spending  penny, 
all  of  them  uniting  in  talking  Lord  Clarendon  into  the  propri- 
ety of  signing  away  England's  right  of  search  on  the  high 
seas,  to  the  evident  disgust  of  the  British  public  and  the  British 
press. 


ft* 


at  -  •* 


CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

BAI^KLAVA,  May  4,  1866. 

The  Battle  Ground  on  the  Tchernaya — General  Liprandi's  Last  Effort — 
Dangerous  Sport — Military  Drunkenness  and  Boston  Rum — How  the 
North  Side  of  Sebastopol  Looks — Todtleben's  Energy — The  Diplomats 
of  Russia — English  Growlers  Abroad — Russian  Feeling  Towards 
France — Policy  of  Austria  and  England — What  the  French  Say  to 
Americans  of  the  British — Republicanism  of  the  French  Army — The 
Losses  of  the  Russian  War,  Ac. 

ANOTHER  chapter,  and  IVe  done  with  my  trip  to  the  Russian 
coast.  Since  my  last,  I  have  ridden  over  to  the  battle  ground 
of  the  Tchernaya,  the  last  great  action  before  the  taking  of 
the  Malakoff.  The  battle  was  fought  early  on  the  morning  of 
the  6th  of  August  last,  and  a  more  desperate  attack,  under 
disadvantageous  circumstances,  could  never  have  been  made. 
The  Russians  intended  to  surprise  the  French  camp  ;  and  so 
sudden  was  the  movement  that  some  of  them  had  pushed  to  the 
very  door  of  Colonel  Adams'  tent ;  but  everything  was  against 
them,  cannon  from  several  batteries,  the  Sardinians  on  the  left, 
the  Piedmontese  close  by,  the  Turkish  in  the  front,  and  the 
French  in  strong  numbers  on  the  right  and  directly  opposite — 
were  all  pointed  towards  the  only  place  where  the  Russians 
could  advance,  the  Tractir  bridge.  The  result  is  well  known. 
The  Russians  were  mown  down  by  thousands,  like  the  bridge 
of  Lodi,  the  Tractir  was  heaped  with  the  slain.  Every  discharge 


i 

334  GENERAL    LIPRANDl's    LASf    EFFORT. 


of  grape  made  a  passage  through  the  Russian  columns  ;  no 
bravery  could  breast  such  a  slaughter.  'Twas  iu  vain  that 
Russian  officers  led  on  their  men,  the  artillery  of  the  allies  tore 
everything  before  it. 

The  Russians  retired  with  terrible  loss,  disheartened  ;  and  three 
weeks  later  they  lost  the  Malakoff,  gave  up  the  Redan,  burned 
their  city,  and  retired  to  their  northern  forts.  The  whole  army, 
men  and  horses,  and  the  swarming  followers  of  the  camp,  the 
active  garrison,  all  went  over  in  a  single  night,  on  a  little  bridge 
of  boats,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  evacuations  ever  recorded 
in  the  records  of  war  !  The  attack  of  the  Tchernaya  was  the 
last  resource  of  Liprandi.  His  army,  inactive  on  the  heights, 
wished  to  be  led  on  ;  and,  desperate  as  was  the  movement,  they 
boldly  crossed  the  Tractir  bridge,  and  were  defeated  with  fright- 
ful loss.  Save  the  small  battery,  the  English  did  not  appear  at 
this  engagement.  Minnie  rifle  balls,  and  shell,  many  of  which 
are  nnexploded,  and  balls  of  various  sizes,  still  lie  thick  upon 
the  battle  field.  An  officer  on  the  field  the  day  of  battle  said 
he  saw  sixteen  Russians  lying  dead  in  one  small  circle,  and  the 
fragments  of  a  shell  in  their  midst.  One  discharge  had  killed 
them  all.  My  companion  picked  up  several  pieces  of  skull,  one 
of  which  had  two  rifle  balls  lodged  in  it.  Sentinels  were  sta- 
tioned on  the  bridge.  Marshal  Pelissier  has  forbidden  any 
Frenchman  to  cross  without  an  order  from  headquarters,  but 
there  is  now  no  restriction  for  the  English. 

It  is  very  dangerous  to  play  with  the  unexploded  shells.  The 
other  day  four  soldiers,  under  the  influence  of  liquor,  thought 
they  would  amuse  themselves  by  touching  a  lighted  segar  to  the 
remains  of  an  unburnt  fuse  of  a  forty-eight  pounder  ;  but  it  was 
a  serious  joke  to  them.  The  shell  burst,  killing  three  on  the 
spot  and  mortally  wounding  the  fourth.  By  the  way,  the 


MILITARY    DRUNKENNESS.  335 


drunkenness  here  is  frightful,  the  men  of  both  armies  make 
beasts  of  themselves  when  they  get  upon  a  spree.  Lately  I 
have  seen  more  French  lying  dead  drunk  on  the  field  than  Eng- 
lish. The  English  say  that  the  French  invite  them  over  to' 
their  camp  and  get  them  drunk,  and  then  rob  and  beat  them. 
When  you  talk  with  a  French  soldier  the  ring  is  on  the  other 
finger.  But  the  truth  must  be  told  :  the  drunkenness  is  occa- 
sioned by  "  pure  New  England  rum,"  marked  Boston,  U.  S.  A. 
At  Kamiesch  I  saw  it  tiered  seven  barrels  high  in  a  large  artil- 
lery park,  and  at  Balaklava  the  supply  was  equally  extensive. 
It  is  the  wine  of  the  officer  and  the  brandy  of  the  soldier,  which 
ever  you  please.  It  was  taken  into  the  trenches  and  was  sold 
in  the  camp.  At  Katikoe,  in  the  cafes,  or  in  the  lines  in  front, 
American  rum  has  been  the  chief  popular  drink  of  the  army. 
An  American  house  at  Constantinople,  with  a  branch  in  Bos- 
ton, has  obtained  the  contract,  and  money,  they  tell  me,  has 
been  coined  in  the  speculation.  What  will  Neal  Dow  say  when 
he  learns  that  Boston  rum  stimulated  the  French  when  they 
sprung  into  the  Malakoff,  and  stirred  up  the  English  at  the 
Redan,  that  Boston  rum  is  the  only  spiritual  medium  of  the 
Crimea. 

I  would  not  have  omitted  my  excursion  to  the  north  side  for 
considerable,  it  has  given  me  altogether  another  view  of  the 
Russian  strength.  Why,  there  are  some  twenty  or  thirty 
Mamelons,  Malakoffs  and  Redensal  earthworks  on  the  same 
gigantic  scale  are  thrown  up  on  every  commanding  position. 
The  genius  of  Todtleben  is  seen  on  every  hand,  wherever  a  gun 
can  bear  upon  an  enemy,  he  has  placed  one.  The  ravines  and 
mountains  all  along  that  side  are  leviathans  in  their  way,  and 
bold,  indeed,  must  be  the  army  that  dare  attack  the  bristling 
bastions  that  command  all  the  approaches.  You  can  Tiave  lit- 


336  TODTLEBEN'S  LAST   ENERGY. 


tie  idea  of  the  wonderful  natural  strength  of  the  Russian 
position  ;  and  what  nature  had  failed  to  do,  Todtleben  accom- 
plished. I  am  not  speaking  of  Fort  Constantino  and  the  stone 
fortifications  commanding  the  entrance,  these  have  already 
spoken  for  themselves.  The  Agememnon  of  the  British  navy 
bears  away  the  marks  of  what  they  could  do.  I  do  not  mean, 
either,  the  Star  forts,  so  extensive  and  so  powerful,  I  only  allude 
to  the  new  bastions,  the  new  earthworks  thrown  up  all  along 
the  high  land,  near  the  head  of  the  bay,  for  miles  ;  cannon 
pointing  in  all  directions.  With  any  kind  of  a  garrison,  no 
army  that  the  allies  could  have  sent  would  have  taken  that  side 
of  Sebastopol.  It  is  all  nonsense  to  say  that  the  allies  have  had 
it  all  their  own  way.  All  sides  can  but  admit  that  Russia  has 
played  well  her  part  of  the  game.  The  war  has  been  confined 
to  her  extreme  frontier,  and  every  foot  of  ground  has  been  con- 
tested by  her  army.  After  three  great  battles  they  commenced 
to  fortify,  and  you  know  the  sequel.  The  earthworks  withstood 
every  attack,  and  the  allies  were  growing  uneasy  until  by  a 
lucky  stroke  the  French  dashed  into  the  Malakoff,  which  proved 
to  be  the  key  of  Sebastopol.  Before,  the  Redan  was  supposed 
to  be,  and  all  remember  the  terrible  losses  of  the  repulse  on  the 
anniversary  of  Waterloo  ;  but  Neil  came  out  from  Paris,  and 
his  eagle  eye  detected  at  once  the  mistake.  They  tried  the 
Malakoff,  took  it  and  held  it ;  and  then  came  the  destruction 
and  evacuation  of  Sebastopol.  Any  one  who  stands  upon  the 
spot  can  but  express  astonishment  at  the  rapidity  with  which  so 
large  a  garrison  crossed  over  on  so  slender  a  path  to  the  other 
side.  Once  there,  what  could  be  done  ?  Their  forts  imme- 
diately opposite  commanded  all  the  approaches  and  every  part 
of  the  city  ;  the  allies  entered,  but  could  not  remain,  only  a  few 
sentinels  were  stationed  there.  The  Russian  guns  poured  down 


THE    DIPLOMATS    OF    RUSSIA. 


331 


their  iron  hail  even  upon  the  Malakoff  and  the  Redan.  What 
then  could  the  allies  do  ?  Take  the  north  side  ?  Never  ? 
Starvation  was  the  only  way,  they  must  do  what  the  Russians 
did  at  Kars.  And  what  general  would  attempt  so  wild  a 
scheme  ?  It  would  require  a  larger  army  than  the  allies  had 
to  spare  to  cut  off  Perekop  ;  and  that  was  their  only  chance, 
for  I  am  willing  to  stake  ten  to  one  that  none  of  them  could 
have  obliged  the  Russians  to  give  up  their  stronghold  so  long 
as  they  had  a  horse  left  to  feed  upon  ;  and  I  saw  that  the  hills 
were  covered  with  cattle.  I  have  talked  with  several  Russian 
officers.  They  seem  disappointed  at  the  peace,  they  wish  to 
have  another  trial,  they  told  me  what  I  saw  for  myself :  that 
each  fort  commanded  its  neighbor  in  the  front,  and  when  one 
was  taken  they  could  retire  to  the  one  in  the  rear,  thus  gradu- 
ally wearing  out  the  patience  of  the  besiegers.  The  "English 
papers  may  say  that  Russia  was  used  up  ;  but  where,  I  ask, 
has  she  not  made  good  her  cause  ?  In  the  Baltic,  in  Carcas- 
sia,  in  Asia  Minor,  Petropaulowski,  at  Castro  Bay,  on  the 
Crimea,  Russia  has  a  right  to  claim  the  acknowledgment  of  a 
brave  and  wonderful  defence. 

In  diplomacy,  Nicholas  with  Seymour,  and  Count  Orloff  at 
Paris,  she  is  equally  at  her  ease.  Alexander,  in  his  manifesto, 
does  not  seem  humiliated.  Napoleon  himself  said  that  he  had 
not  been  humbled.  Russia  is  satisfied  with  the  peace  ;  and 
well  she  may  be,  for  England  commenced  with  boasting  and 
ended  by  giving  up  her  right  of  search.  Just  at  the  moment 
her  army  and  navy  were  so  efficient  she  is  now  ready  for  war, 
and  being  ready,  she  signs  a  peace  which  must  break  the  pre- 
sent Ministry.  Through  Australia,  China,  India,  wherever  I 
met  an  Englishman,  peace  was  howled  down  ;  and  now  the 


338  RUSSIAN    FEELING    TOWARDS    FRANCE. 


documents  has  been  signed,  England  reserves  her  hereditary 
privilege  of  growling. 

Sebastopol  is  a  ruin,  admit  it ;  the  .docks  are  destroyed — 
admit  that  also  ;  but  what  Is  that  ?  Can  they  not  be  rebuilt  ? 
The  city  can  soon  be  thrown  together 'again,  and  as  for  the 
docks,  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars  would  make  them  as  good 
as  new.  They  say  the  Black  Sea  fleet  has  been  sunk  •  but  the 
last  mail  also  says  that  Russia  is  allowed  the  privilege  of  raising 
the  Ships  and  taking  them  through  the  Bosphorus  to  the  Bal- 
tic. So  much  for  the  damage  on  the  Crimea,  so  much  for  the 
results  of  this  famous  contest,  a  patched  up  peace,  and  a  strange 
uncertainty  enveloping  the  future.  France  and  Russia  seem 
lately  to  have  a  sneaking  fondness  for  each  other.  Napoleon 
will  probably  go  up  the  Neva,  and  Alexander  will  have  to 
visit  France  to  kiss  the  baby.  A  treaty  has  been  signed,  and 
that  which  is  given  to  the  world  looks  very  plausible.  But  who 
can  tell  us  of  the  secret  papers  that  have  passed  between  the 
representatives  of  the  nations  ?  Great  things  are  often  done 
on  the  sly.  Lord  Palmerston  knows  a  thing  or  two,  and  per- 
haps Russia  has  got  more  than  the  British  public  and  the  world 
is  allowed  to  read. 

Remember  the  secret  articles  between  Alexander  and  Napo- 
leon at  the  treaty  of  Tilsit.  May  there  not  be  some  equally 
good  understanding  between  their  imperial  successors  ?  It 
would  almost  seem  so.  Diplomacy  at  home  has  been  working 
the  oracle,  and  France  and  Russia  may  yet  be  pitted  against 
Austria  and  England,  their  object  the  division  of  Turkey. 
When  we  remember  that  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  the  Em- 
peror Alexander,  after  Waterloo,  walked  arm  and  arm,  showing 
the  good  will  of  their  respective  armies  and  respective  nations, 
into  Paris,  and  together  shed  tears  at  the  grave  of  Josephine 


WHAT    THE    FRENCH    SAY    TO    AMERICANS.  339 


at  Fontainebleau,  need  we  be  surprised  to  find  France  and  Rus- 
sia as  firmly  allied,  the  one  to  revenge  his  uncle's  fate  at  St. 
Helena,  the  other  to  gratify  a  long  concealed  revenge  and  na- 
tional hatred  and  jealousy  against  the  flag  of  a  thousand  years  ? 
The  armies  in  the  Crimea  are  by  no  means  friendly.  The  Eng- 
lish and  Sardinians  are  more  together,  but  the  French  keep 
aloof  from  John  Bull,  and  Russia  never  fails  to  cut  his  acquain- 
tance. The  Russian  officers  whom  I  have  met  occasionally 
give  a  low  growl  at  England  and  Austria,  praising  the  French 
and  abusing  the  Turks,  in  fact,  all  abuse  the  Sultan's  troops. 
They  have  forgotten  Kars  and  Silistria  and  severarother  im- 
portant engagements,  where  Turkey  maintained  her  ancient 
fame.  I  can't  bear  them  ;  yet  am  willing  to  give  the  beggars 
their  due.  The  world  looks  at  their  stampede  from  the  redoubts 
at  Balaklava,  and  forgets  other  deeds  of  unmistakable  bravery. 
I  don't  think  the  Turkish  army  has  credit  for  all  it  has  perform- 
ed. All  iu  the  Crimea  abuse  the  Turks,  English,  French  and 
Russians  ;  the  Russians  abuse  the  English,  and  the  English  and 
French  abuse  each  other. 

With  Americans,  standing  on  neutral  ground,  the  French 
open  out  without  reserve.  A  day  or  two  since  I  breakfasted 
in  the  French  camp  ;  fourteen  officers  of  high  rank  at  the  dejeu- 
ner, and  several  Russians.  We  were  four  hours  at  the  table — 
a  regular  Parisian  entertainment.  When  the  wine  began  to 
circulate,  England  and  the  English  were  the  text  for  the  jest 
and  the  satire.  They  give  them  credit  for  nothing.  They  say 
that  they  have  always  been  a  drawback  ;  never  up  to  time,  a 
perfect  drag  upon  the  French  army.  Now,  this  is  all  nonsense  ; 
but,  however,  I  can  only  repeat  what  I  heard  at  the  French- 
man's table.  To  sura  up,  in  the  language  of  the  Zouave  col- 
onel : — "  The  English  were  too  late  for  the  Alma  ;  the  English 


340        REPUBLICANISM  IN  THE  FRENCH  ARMY. 


were  asleep  at  Inkermann  ;  the  English  were  mad  at  Balaklaya  ; 
the  English  ran  from  the  Redan  ;  and  at  the  Tchernaya  not  an 
Englishman  was  to  be  seen."  Such,  in  short,  are  the  views  of 
the  French  officers  regarding  their  brave  allies  ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  no  love  has  been  lost.  The  English  officer,  in  his 
cold  national  reserve,  says  less,  and  when  he  does  speak,  is  more 
guarded  ;  but  you  can  but  notice  a  cold  sneer  at  the  champagne 
style  of  the  French,  a  quiet  hate  as  natural  as  it  is  national. 
It  is  evident  they  do  not  like  each  other.  It  is  the  same  with 
the  soldiers  ;  several  fights  have  already  occurred,  and  one  or 
two  have  been  killed.  If  they  should  once  get  at  it  on  a  large 
scale,  it  would  be  difficult  to  check  the  emeute,  for  discipline, 
since  the  peace,  is  none  of  the  best.  The  Frenchmen  also  say 
that  this  war  has  shown  them  a  close  view  of  England's  manner 
of  fighting,  and  by  and-by  they  will  profit  by  it. 

There  is  one  thing  I  have  noticed,  far  and  wide.  The  officers 
of  the  French  army  itself,  do  not  like  the  Emperor.  They  are 
red  republican  to  the  back  bone,  and  the  moment  that  wine  goes 
freely  round,  out  comes  the  "  Marsellaise."  Napoleon  knows 
this,  and  hence  new  expeditions  are  being  formed  to  keep  the 
disaffected  regiments  out  of  France.  Several  regiments  are 
soon  off  for  Madagascar,  and  the  Zouaves  and  Chasseurs  d'Aff- 
rique  go  to  Algiers.  Pelissier  is  not  popular  with  his  army, 
and  the  French  Emperor  is  silently  hated.  There  must  be 
something  looming  in  the  future.  A  word  more  and  your  Cri- 
mean correspondent  resigns  his  pen  to  abler  hands.  I  am  glad 
that  I  have  been  one  of  the  men  to  visit  Sebastopol,  the  great 
battle  stage  of  the  present  century,  where  some  five  nations 
have  acted  their  blood  thirsty  parts  before  an  audience  of  the 
world.  Thus  far  few  Americans  have  been  here,  and  unless 
they  get  down  soon,  they  will  have  to  come  in  a  private  yacht 


LOSSES    OF   THE    RUSSIAN    WAR.  341 


or  make  their  way  down  via  Moscow  and  Perekop,  for  the  com- 
munication will  be  shortly  stopped. 

I  had  forgotten  to  mention  that  the  Russians  are  never  tired 
of  showing  their  friendliness  for  the  Americans.  The  young 
Prince  before  alluded  to  invited  me  to  the  hospitality  of  the 
Russian  camp  at  Baalbec,  and  promised  to  go  with  me  to  Sim- 
pheropol,  but  my  tune  did  not  permit.  He  says  that  the  army 
received  10,000  Colt's  revolvers  from  America,  through  Prus- 
sia, and  that  there  were  nearly  five  hundred  engineers  and  doc- 
tors, all  Americans,  in  the  Russian  ranks.  Another  officer  also 
observed  that  there  were  twelve  ships  being  constructed  for 
Russia  in  the  American  dockyards  ;  but  of  course  I  don't  be- 
lieve these  stories,  I  only  mention  what  I  am  told.  The  Eng 
Ijsh  say  that  we  are  altogether  Russian  in  our  feeling,  alluding 
to  the  revolver  business  ;  but  they  forget  that  individuals  ship- 
ped gunpowder  from  New  York  to  Londou,  and  that  Ameri- 
can clippers,  for  a  small  consideration,  were  kind  enough  to 
take  down  troops  and  ammunition  for  England's  august  ally. 

To-night  I  embark  for  Constantinople  by  a  steam  transport  ; 
and  in  taking  my  last  glance  at  the  field  of  battle,  I  can  but 
again  contemplate  the  fearful  loss  of  life  arising  from  the  war. 

Directly  and  indirectly,  a  million  of  men  have  gone,  in  the 
awful  moment  of  crime,  to  meet  their  Maker.  The  heads  of 
families  numbering  five  millions  have  been  lopped  off,  and  or- 
phans and  widows,  beggars  and  cripples  are  onoe  again  added 
to  the  swelling  list.  Never  before  has  been  recorded  such  ter- 
rible mortality.  The  recital  of  the  facts  sickens  the  heart.  So 
much  misery  !  And  what  has  been  accomplished?  Nothing. 
Europe  is  darker  than  ever  before,  and  clouds  heavy  and  som- 
bre hang  over  her  convulsing  polities,  concealing  under  the  de- 
ceptive garb  of  peace  the  thunderbolt  that  is  ambushed  within. 

• 


CHAPTEE   XXXVIII. 

CONCLUDING  CHAPTER  TO  A  SIX  MONTHS  TOUR. 

Retrospective  glances ;  Arrival  in  London — Reflections — Australian  re- 
membrances, Melbourne,  Sydney  and  Tasmania — The  Spice  Islands 
— China — India  and  Voyage  to  Egypt — The  Desert — The  Delta  and 
the  Pyramids — Alexandria  and  its  Old  Associations — Joppa  to  Jeru- 
salem— Bethlehem — Biblical  Memories — Port  of  Asia  Minor — Islands 
of  the  Levant — Stamboul  and  the  Bosphorus — The  Euxine  and  the 
Crimea — Modern  War— Sebastopol — Kameisch  and  Balaklava — Re- 
turn via  the  Ionian  Islands — Landing  at  Trieste — Austrian  Bayonets 
and  Austrian  Espionage — Continental  tour — No  time  lost  in  passing 
through  the  Hemisphere. 

LONDON,  May  22,  1856. 

LONDON  at  last,  can  it  be  possible  that  I  am  so  near  my  native 
land  !  That  dear  country  from  which  I  had  been  so  long  away  ; 
dearer  than  ever  to  me,  for  now  I  know  its  worth.  I  have  seen 
the  world  and  much  that  in  it  moves  ;  but  never  did  I  love  my 
mother-land  as  now.  Comparison  with  other  countries,  only 
makes  me  more  boastful  of  the  flag,  place  them  side  by  side  and 
far  above  them  all  you  will  find  my  own.  The  young  Ameri- 
can, never  can  appreciate  his  country  till  he  has  been  abroad, 
until  he  has  sailed  in  distant  seas,  and  slept  in  foreign  climes.  J 
am  once  again  in  London,  and  when  I  remember  the  aboriginal 
races  that  I  have  met,  I  feel  even  here  at  home,  for  what  are 
Americans  but  Englishmen  left  to  themselves  ?  Islanders,  Asia- 
tics, Africans  and  Europeans,  have  no  community  of  feeling 


REFLECTIONS    ON    LONDON.  343 


with,  and  all  widely  different  from  the  children  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  father,  and  I  am  glad  once  more  to  find  a  similar  cos- 
tume, a  similar  language,  and  a  similar  worship  to  my  own. 
Meet  an  Englishman  in  a  foreign  soil,  where  the  habits,  customs 
and  religion  of  the  native  shows  absence  of  civilization,  where 
the  mind  is  even  darker  than  the  skin,  and  the  American  tourist 
is  sure  to  hail  him  as  a  brother. 

Six  years  have  wrought  their  changes  since  last  I  saw  this 
wonderful  pivot  on  which  the  world  has  turned  for  centuries, 
but  London  is  still  the  same.  A  few  new  streets,  a  few  new 
buildings,  a  few  new  scenes,  the  removal  of  the  Crystal  Palace, 
may  alter  a  feature  in  its  face,  but  to  me  'tis  the  same  old  Lon- 
don which  I  knew  before,  with  its  teeming,  restless,  riding,  walk- 
ing, writing,  thinking,  sleeping,  dressing,  eating,  drinking,  bust- 
ling millions  ;  with  its  peasants  and  its  palaces,  its  poverty  and 
its  peers,  its  piety  and  its  pickpockets,  its  pensioners,  its  poli- 
tics, and  its  press,  London  is  still  the  same  1  What  a  world  of 
history  is  written  every  day  and  every  hour  in  this  great  city. 
Even  minutes  have  their  eventful  dramas,  and  audiences  to  see 
them  acted,  births,  marriages,  deaths,  all  are  occurring  while  I 
write — from  the  cradle  to  the  coffin,  the  scene  continually 
changes,  misery  and  crime  are  searing,  corroding,  damning  the 
consciences  of  the  poor,  while  the  rich  roll  on  in  endless  luxury  j 
perhaps  no  happier  in  the  romance  of  their  wealth,  than  those 
who  grind  out  from  day  to  day  the  terrible  realization  of  want. 

A  stranger  in  London  is  almost  as  isolated  as  a  Hermit  in  a 
wilderness,  no  one  cares  for  him,  none  notice  him,  he  passes  on 
and  returns  again,  at  sea  with  himself  for  being  lonely  where 
all  is  life,  for  London  is  a  wilderness,  an  ocean  of  Humanity 
But  I  am  not  a  stranger,  for  I  am  familiar  with  its  features, 
and  yet  I  almost  feel  lost  in  London,  for  its  magnitude  startles 


*5   2      ,*-*•* 

344  AUSTRALIAN    REMEMBRANCES. 


t 

and'  then  confounds — equal  to  three  Australias  ;  ten  Londons 
would  make  another  United  States  in  population  !  But  why 
lose  myself  in  contemplation,  why  soliloquize,  why  not  hasten 
home  to  join  my  family  and  friends  ?  Long  months  of  truant 
travel  have  been  passed,  and  yet  though  I  have  twice  circumnav- 
igated the  globe  in1  distance,  I  cannot  realize  what  I  have  done, 
where  I  have  been,  nor  what  I  have  accomplished.  Let  me  review 
— First,  I  saw  the  Australian  fleet  on  the  tide  of  speculation 
heading  for  the  new  discovered  goldfield  ;  I  saw  New  York 
some  four  years  since,  passed  the  line,  looked  at  old  Cape  Hope 
and  landed  in  Victoria  ;  then  came  hard  work,  hard  living,  hard 
times,  hard  letters,  and,  commissions.  I  said  Melbourne  was  to 
be  the  center  of  ,a  mighty  nation  whose  manhood  was  recog- 
nized in  its  infancy,  where  power  was  in  its  gold  and  golden 
lands,  and  whose  progress  and  rapid  growth  would  soon  aston- 
ish* its  manly  brother  and  its  noble  old  father,  whose  broad 
domain  is  divided  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  I  saw  the  gold 
fields  and  down  I  went  some  one  hundred  and  seventy  feet  on 
the  Balaarat,  deep  down  in  the  bowels  of  the  Eureka  to  find 
where  they  got  the  gold.  I  looked  about  me  and  saw  how 
wide  the  field,  how  few  the  laborers,  for  half  a  million  may  earn 
a  livelihood  with  the  shovel  and  the  pick.  I  noticed  the  thriv- 
ing townships,  the  squatters  and  the  sheep  ;  I  saw  agricultural 
lands  waiting  for  the  farmer's  industry,  and  then  I  went  to 
Sydney  and  gazed  with  startled  wonder  upon  its  rock  bound 
gateway,  its  beautiful  harbor,  its  handsome  city.  I  appreciated 
the  hospitality  of  the  Governor  General,  and  Sir  Charles  Nichol- 
son opened  wide  his  house.  I  remember  with  pleasure  the  trip 
to  Parramatta(and  learn  with  sadness  that  young  Fitzroy,  mine 
host,  threw  his  life  away  in  the  trenches  of  the  Redan).  Leav- 
ing New  South  Wales,  I  saw  Tasmania,  the  mountains  on  its 


$»*j       ;/    *** 

WHAT   I    HAVE    SEEN.  345 


banks  and  Hobart  Town,  I  liked  the  social  life  I  found  there, 
and  cannot  forget  the  courtesy  of  the  Governor,  Sir  Henry 
Young  and  his  beautiful  wife  ;  for  Government  House  was  opeu- 
ed  wide  by  young  Britannia  ;  I  entered,  and  thought  how  often 
had  Sir  John  Franklin  had  the  same  grand  halls  ;  but  now 
who  knew  his  fate — first  in  the  Southern  ocean,  and  then  the 
North,  where  he  loses  himself  forever.  Through  the  island 
country  seats  of  loyal  Englishmen,  over  roads  made  perfect  by 
the  convicts  labor  to  Launceston,  where  the  Tamar  guides  the 
shipping  to  the  port  of  Georgetown — so  much  have  I  seen  of  the 
Australias.  I  have  seen  more,  an  American  clipper  is  ashore, 
and  a  Boston  lady  is  wrecked  upon  a  desolate  bit  of  land  in 
Baso's  straits,  with  a  Lascar  crew,  a  shepherd  and  a  convict 
servant,  with  snakes,  kangaroos,  and  isolation  ;  I  got  the  news 
— I  did  not  like  the  journey  ;  but  there  was  a  woman  to  be 
rescued.  And  then  I  saw  King's  Island,  where  ship  after  ship 
has  been  driven  ashore  and  where  a  thousand  lives  have  offered 
up  a  prayer  for  a  light  house.  Yes,  I  have  seen  something  of 
New  Holland. 

Long  ago  I  have  seen  the  several  States  of  my  own  country, 
lived  at  the  north,  and  seen  the  last  of  all  my  family  die  at  the 
south  ;  but  it  was  years  ago,  when  I  left  a  mother,  father,  and 
three  sweet  sisters  to  be  eaten  up  by  the  Cranship,  in  a  dismal 
and  watery  graveyard  upon  the  Mississippi's  banks  in  New 
Orleans.  Several  times  by  steamboat  and  by  rail  I  looked 
about  my  home,  and  passed  some  days  in  all  the  Canadas, 
crossed  the  Atlantic  in  steam  packet  and  in  sailing  ship,  and 
lived  for  months  in  England,  long  enough  to  like  the  people  and 
appreciate  their  worth,  local  prejudices  were  strong  when  I 
landed.  But  a  warm  and  cordial  welcome  gave  me  a  taste  for 
England's  hospitality.  I  will  never  again  trust  to  books  to  un- 


RETURN  AROUND  CAPE  HORN. 

derstand  a  nation's  character.  Active  in  business  while  there, 
yet  finding  time  to  visit  its  classic  lakes  where  poets  most  do 
congregate,  its  cities,  its  grand  old  castles,  its  monuments  and 
its  works  of  genius  and  of  fame  :  and  saw  something  of  Ireland, 
of  Scotland  and  of  Wales. 

I  saw  the  Queen  at  Balmoral  in  the  highlands,  and  Prince 
Albert  in  the  Kill,  just  after  he  had  shot  a  buck  y  and  the 
Premier  presented  me  to  Lady  Russell  at  Braemaer.  I  saw  the 
Tromocks,  Loch  Katrine  and  Melrose  Abbey,  and  still  remem- 
ber the  evening  passed  with  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  at  the 
George,  on  the  banks  of  the  Menai  in  Wales.  His  autograph 
to  visit  Chatsworth  whenever  it  might  suit  my  pleasure,  is  still 
in  iny  possession.  I  saw  his  beautiful  Palace  and  was  satisfied, 
from  Aberdeen  to  Dover,  from  the  Tubular  Bridge  to  the  Crys- 
tal Palace,  I  luxuriated  hi  the  land,  and  then  I  saw  the  Con- 
tinent and  laughed  and  lived  afresh  when  I  got  to  Paris.  But 
all  this  was  years  ago.  Having  then  seen  what  I  could  of 
America,  of  England,  and  of  Australia,  where  our  sixty  millions 
of  Anglo-Saxons  delight  in  astonishing  the  eight  hundred  mil- 
lions of  aboriginals  which  the  world  contains.  I  wished  to  see 
something  more  of  human  life,  and  to  ascertain  if  it  were  possi- 
ble to  find  a  better  place  to  live  and  die.  I  have  failed  to  find 
one.  Well,  then,  let  me  see,  I  was  in  Melbourne  in  November 
last  (being  entertained  at  a  public  dejeuner,  by  English  gentle- 
men who  doubted  the  propriety  of  my  celebrating  our  national 
anniversary  by  a  public  dinner  some  three  years  since),  I  was 
in  Melbourne  and  homeward  bound,  what  should  I  do  ?  Return 
around  Cape  Horn,  a  three  months'  voyage  by  water.  No  1  I 
can  do  better,  I  will  go  into  other  countries,  look  hard  at  what 
I  see,  and  listen  attentively  to  what  I  hear  ;  remember  all  that 
is  new  to  me  and  book  it.  I  have  done  so,  and  you  must  par- 


SIX   MONTHS    RECORD.  847 


don  the  egotism  that  drives  a  man  into  print,  'tis  a  failing  of 
our  race,  but  as  I  have  written  all  these  letters  incog.  I  may 
escape  praise,  but  not  censure,  or  may  pass  under  the  table  un- 
noticed. You  will  perhaps  give  me  credit  for  industry,  as  well 
as  vanity,  for  to  write  so  many  pages  on  board  of  noisy  steam- 
ers with  half  a  regiment  of  sucking  babies  at  your  elbow,  cannot 
be  the  fruit  of  idleness.  I  hare  been  the  rounds  of  a  six  months' 
trip.  -  At  the  start  I  wrote  you  what  I  expected  to  do.  Have 
I  not  accomplished  the  task  ?  Let  me  sum  up  the  records  of 
six  months  among  the  natives. 

In  November,  I  remember  of  seeing  the  woody  highlands 
on  the  Australian  coast,  hanging  on  for  days  in  the  face  and 
eyes  of  a  screaming  norther,  the  same  that  dismasted  the  Fly- 
ing Arrow.  I  have  bought  spring  chickens  and  plantains  at 
Anjer,  eaten  mangosteen  and  drunk  ice-water  at  Batavia,  lunch- 
ed at  the  kingly  palace  of  the  Dutch  governor  at  Buitenzorg 
in  Java,  passed  through  the  straits  of  Sunda  to  look  at  the 
village  of  Minto,  the  tin  mines  of  the  Island  of  Banca,  and 
the  spice  groves  of  Sumatra  ;  gathered  pine-apples  at  three 
cents  a  dozen,  walked  through  nutmeg  plantations,  and  seen 
the  native  girls  bathe  at  Singapore — talked  opium,  missionaries 
going  up  the  China  seas,  and  wandered  through  the  streets  of 
Hong  Kong,  surprised  at  its  rapid  progress  ;  but  I  was  home- 
sick in  the  desolation  of  Macao,  and  bluer  still  while  gazing  at 
the  cheerless  burial  ground  at  Wbampoa.  Promenaded  about 
the  Factory  gardens  in  the  morning,  and  in  the  evening  at 
Canton,  and  joined  in  boating,  billiards  and  routs,  making  the 
acquaintance  of  its  merchants,  its  bankers  and  its  ladies  ;  steam- 
ed ten  knots  against  the  monsoon  up  the  China  coast,  tip  that 
monster  River  the  Yang-tze-Kiang  to  Woostmg,  where  opium 
ships  use  cannon  as  an  argument,  still  further  up  this  wonderful 


348  INDIA    AND    VOYAGE   TO    EGYPT. 


river  to  Shanghae,  where  silks  and  green  teas,  and  ships  and 
imports,  make  active  in  their  season,  merchants  who  live  like 
princes,"  and  appear  to  relish  life  in  China.  Disappointed  in 
paying  my  respects  to  the  Emperor  of  Japan  by  the  non-arrival 
of  the  "  Greta,"  a  stateroom  is  offered  me  by  a  Canton  merchant 
whose  clipper  is  bound  down  the  coast,  so  -in  company  with  the 
Boston  boys,  Heard  and  Gray,  we  came  down  fluking  ;  saw 
Ningpo  in  the  distance,  passed  up  the  River  Min  without  meet- 
ing the  "  Orientals"  fate,  and  anchored  at  the  Pagoda.  No 
pirates  crossed  our  track,  but  the  Tartar  Viceroy  of  Foo-chow- 
foo,  whose  beggarly  aid  struck  down  my  coolie  boy.  This  is 
where  I  saw  the  Black  Tea  shipments,  the  Commandant  Fish- 
ing, and  the  huge  spittoon  of  our  Consul  (like  that  long  necked 
jar  of  the  crane  in  the  fable).  Did  not  stop  at  Amoy,  but  saw 
the  Swatau  fleet  loading  slaves,  who  embark  as  passengers,  but 
do  not  find  the  mistake  till  they  land  in  Cuba  aud  South  Amer- 
ica. 

I  looked  again  at  Hong  Kong  and  hurried  down  at  Singa- 
pore in  an  opium  clipper  steamer,  sailed  past  Penang,  up  the 
Bay  of  Bengal,  into  the  Hoogly,  and  then  I  saw  Calcutta.  An 
Indian  life,  and  watched  the  Indian's  customs,  while  I  lived  and 
mixed  with  Europeans,  who  opened  for  me  the  rooms  of  the 
Bengal  Club.  I  saw  that  most  unusual  sight  two  live  Governor 
Generals  at  one  time  in  India,  and  there  were  Indian  Princes, 
and  Indian  Kings  at  Lady  Canning's  ball,  whose  wealthy  do- 
mains England  has  kindly  relieved  them  of,  a  philanthropy  pe- 
culiar to  our  Anglo-Saxon  mother.  I  boated  up  the  river  to 
the  Government  Palace,  and  saw  the  government  park,  and  the 
governor's  menagerie,  and  in  Calcutta  saw  the  disgusting  forms 
of  Hindoo  worship.  Continuing  my  journey  I  saw  Madras  and 
stopped  long  enough  to  be  disgusted,  but  not  sufficient  time  to 


THE   DELTA   AND  THE    PYRAMIDS.  349 


see  its  many  beautiful  residences  back  of  the  wide  and  uninvit- 
ing seaport.  Bought  indian  jewelry  from  Trichinonopoly,  and 
was  amazed  at  the  sight  of  a  Catamaran,  hurried  on  to  Ceylon, 
and  killed  musquitoes  as  big  as  an  ink  bottle,  at  the  mansion 
house  at  Point  de  Galle,  but  did  not  think  much  of  the  Cinna- 
mon groves,  a  standing  sell  to  the  overland  passenger.  Spent 
forty  dollars  in  singular  bracelets  made  of  amber  and  tortoise 
shell,  talked  East  Indian,  when  the  Nubia's  party  spoke  of 
American  slavery,  and  argued  the  point  of  annexation  in  India 
a  blessing,  in  America,  a  crime  !  My  fellow  passengers  all  con- 
sidering the  political  fillibustering  seizure  of  Oude  a  master 
stroke  of  policy  with  the  late  Lord  Dalhousie.  Slept  four  in  a 
room  all  the  way  to  Aden,  having  a  son  of  the  Parliamentary 
debater,  the  late  Lord  Erskine  as  a  chum.  Stopped  a  day  on 
the  Arab's  shore  to  coal,  and  saw  the  natives  dive  for  sixpence, 
and  the  encampment  where  the  Sepoy  Regiment  guard  the 
sterile  rocks  of  Aden  against  the  Arabs. 

Quicker  and  faster  we  are  moving  on,  up  the  Red  Sea's  hot 
waters,  but  saw  no  foot  prints  of  Pharaoh  or  his  hosts,  no  chariot 
wheels,  no  ancient  Colt's  revolver  or  Minnie  rifle  in  the  sand  ; 
watched  with  singular  interest  the  Arab  caravan  as  the  Pil- 
grims prayed  and  resumed  their  march  to  Mecca,  and  counted 
a  thousand  Camels  going  between  Suez  and  Cairo  ;  am  not  sur- 
prised at  the  mutinous  behavior  of  Napoleon's  army,  for  the 
desert  ride  is  terrible  to  the  nerves.  Passed  through  the  land 
of  Abraham,  of  Isaac  and  of  Jacob,  and  gazed  on  Ali's  tomb. 
All  this  I  saw,  and  then  those  other  wonders  of  the  world,  so 
dark  with  age  and  mystery,  the  Pyramids  of  Egypt  more  astonish- 
ed me  than  anything  yet  which  I  have  seen  ;  but  I  hastened  on, 
leaving  the  Nile,  lower  Egypt  and  Cairo,  through  the  fertile 
valley  of  the  Delta,  through  the  inland  towns  of  mud  and  filth, 

t  •* 


350  BETHLEHEM — BIBLICAL   MEMORIES. 


disgusted  with  sore  eyes,  sand  and  fleas,  the  humbug  and  tinsel 
of  the  laud,  till  we  got  to  Alexandria,  where  Cleopatra's  needles 
reminded  me  of  Caesar's  amours,  and  Catacombs  and  Porapey's 
pillar  covered  another  historic  era.  Once  more  I  am  off,  and 
this  time  for  Syria  and  Palestine  ;  I  saw  Joppa  and  Ramlah, 
and  Jerusalem,  plucked  thorns  from  off  the  bush,  where  Pontius 
Pilate  crucified  Christ,  gathered  fruit  upon  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  and  flowers  in  the  garden  Gethsemane.  I  saw  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  on  Mount  Calvary,  and  the  tombs  of  David  and  of 
Absalom  and  of  the  Judges — the  Brook  Kedron,  the  valley  of 
Jehoshaphat,  the  tomb  of  Lazarus  and  Mary's  Well,  and  walked 
through  the  Via  Dolorosa,  and  saw  the  site  of  Solomon's  tem- 
ple. And  then  I  rode  to  Bethlehem  and  saw  stars  still  shining 
brightly  over  the  shepherds  of  Judea,  and  beautiful  women 
with  simple  attire  were  there,  and  further  on  was  Jordan  and 
its  memories,  the  Dead  Sea,  and  Jericho  and  Gallilee  ;  I  saw 
the  Manger  Cradle  in  the  Sepulchre,  but  did  not  profit  by  the 
mummery  of  the  Priest.  I  went  again  to  Ramlah  and  plucked 
lilies  in  Sharon's  valley,  and  oranges  in  the  groves  of  Joppa. 
Then  I  tried  the  Austrian  steamer  and  found  an  Italian  Prince, 
an  Irish  Peer  and  a  nobleman  of  France  at  our  table.  I  saw 
Mount  Carmel,  Napoleon's  Hospital,  and  Acre  and  Beyrout  ; 
was  entertained  by  an  Egyptian  sovereign  in  European  style, 
and  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  Harem's  inmates,  peering  down 
upon  the  dancers.  With  Arab  horses  in  company  with  a  Lon- 
don banker  I  rode  o'er  hill  and  valley,  and  there  were  the 
cedars  of  Lebanon,  and  beyond  them  was  Damascus  ;  then  we 
visited  Lattakia  and  Larnarca  in  the  Island  of  Cyprus,  and 
went  to  Alexandretta,  and  Messina,  and  then  to  Rhodes  where 
the  Templar  Knights  were  once  and  all  powerful,  and  anchored 
at  Lucyrna  a  claimant  for  the  nativity  of  Homer — went  over 


ISLANDS   OF   THE   LEVANT.  351 


to  Bornabat,  and  picked  oranges  out  of  the  parlor  windows  of 
my  friend,  ordered  some  fifty  boxes  of  figs  as  presents  for  home 
consumption. 

I  hope  you  are  not  fatigued  for  there's  more  ground  yet  to 
cover,  for  continually,  we  are  passing  new  scenes,  island  after 
island  filled  with  history,  wild  and  terrible  history.  There  was 
Patmos,  and  I  forget  the  name,  but  the  place  is  memorable  for 
the  brutal  slaughter  of  the  Greeks,  120,000,  not  forty  years 
ago  were  scattered  by  the  Turk  ;  one  thousand  only  escaped  to 
tell  t\e  damning  tale  1  And  this  is  that  Turkey  for  which  the 
allied  armies  have  dressed  themselves  in  a  mourning  garb. 
Other  lands  of  note  I  passed,  islands  of  which  the  Levant  is 
full,  covered  with  foliage,  bandits  and  windmills,  and  then  to 
Tripoli,  Gallippoli  and  the  Dardanelles,  and  after  the  Sea  of 
Marmora.  I  saw  the  mosques  and  university  and  all  that  makes 
the  picturesque  in  old  Stamboul,  and  there  was  Constantinople 
and  Pera  and  the  Bosphorus,  that  dark  and  silent  river,  that 
covers  the  ruin  of  many  a  fair  and  lovely  maid  ;  and  I  saw  the 
villages  on  either  side,  and  the  transport  fleet,  and  Scutari's  hos- 
pital, all  was  strange,  all  was  novel  ;  but  not  as  strange  as  rep- 
resented in  the  books,  not  as  beautiful  as  writers  would  make 
us  believe,  the  real  features  are  swallowed  in  fancy.  Why  don't 
tourists  stick  to  truth,  for  exaggeration  spoils  the  effect  ?  From 
the  capital  of  the  Turk,  I  steamed  through  the  Black  sea,  and 
landed  in  the  Crimea,  to  be  astonished  at  the  magnitude  of 
modern  warfare. 

There  were  five  monster  armies,  and  all  that  gives  them 
strength.  How  different  from  a  land  at  peace.  Kamiesch,  with 
its  army,  fleet,  and  its  village  of  huts,  and  Balaklava,  a  little 
mountain  lake,  uncomfortably  packed  with  shipping  ;  Balak- 
lava, where  a  nation  went  to  war  by  railway,  and  Sebastopol 

*•& 


.     V 

*-       * 

352  AUSTRIAN    BAYONETS — AUSTRIAN   ESPOINAGE. 


in  its  horrible  desolation,  and  the  Redan  with  its  sickening 
memories,  and  the  Malakoff,  and  then  there  was  Inkermann, 
and  the  Alma,  and  the  plunge  of  the  last  of  the  Cardigan's,  and 
the  Tchernaya,  and  Baalbec  and  Simpheropol — all  these,  and 
then  the  return  through  the  Moslem  pass  ;  through  the  Ionian 
islands,  where  we  saw  Scio  with  its  quaint  old  city,  and  Corfu, 
with  its  frowning  cannon,  pointed  by  an  English  garrison — past 
Athens,  immortal  Athens,  the  laud  of  fable  and  of  fame,  the 
home  of  renegade  Greeks,  of  robber  hordes  ;  for  law  continued 
against  a  long  sojourn,  past  Lord  Byron's  grave  where  he  wrote 
his  own  requiem.  Up  the  Adriatic,  near  the  classic  grounds  of 
Italy,  till  we  saw  Trieste  and  shuddered  at  the  Austrian's  des- 
potic sway.  We  anchored,  and  Austrian  officers  waited  upon 
us  ashore  under  Austrian  bayonets,  examining  our  baggage 
with  an  Austrian  incivility,  and  watching  us  as  though  we  had 

• 

been  guilty  of  some  political  crime  ;  from  the  hour  I  landed 
till  I  left  the  frontier,  passing  on  through  Gratz  to  Vienna,  and 
from  Vienna  into  Germany,  I  was  never  at  liberty ;  I  knew 
that  Austrian  police  were  ever  near,  and  the  never  ceasing 
checking  and  counter  checking,  signing  and  counter  signing  of 
my  passport,  told  of  their  damnable  system  of  espionage,  by 
which  thank  God,  England,  and  my  own  country  have  never 
been  cursed.  From  Austria,  through  German  states,  into  Brun- 
,  elly,  and  then  to  France,  through  continental  cities  full  of  paint- 
•  „  ings  and  sculpture,  with  history  written  in  blood,  till  we  reach  a 
free  air,  and  land  at  Dover  ;  and  here  I  am,  in  London,  in  time 
for  the  peace  illuminations  and  the  Derby. 

I  have  thus  run  through  the  way  stations  of  a  six  months 
tour.  This  will  show  you  what  can  be  accomplished  by  the 
clipper  ship,  the  steamboat,  the  railway  car  and  the  Arab's 
horse.  Tis  a  long  journey,  expensive  and  fatiguing,  but  most 


CONTINENTAL   TOUR.  353 


instructive  ;  though  whirling  along  so  rapidly,  I  have  daguereo- 
typed  upon  the  memory,  what  I  have  seen  of  the  singular  cus- 
toms and  manners  of  aboriginal  tribes  ;  all  of  them  are  taught 
to  worship  a  supreme  being,  but  'tis  the  heathen  homage  of  un- 
enlightened intellect.  Wherever  I  go,  money  is  the  ruling  power, 
the  passion  giving  birth  to  all  the  forms  of  crime.  In  this  re- 
spect there  is  a  wonderful  resemblance.  The  New  Hollander, 
the  Javanese,  the  Malay  tribes  of  Borneo,  the  Japanese,  the 
K lings  from  Coromaudel,  the  Chinese,  the  Siamese,  the  natives 
of  Manilla,  the  Bengalee,  the  Hindostanee,  the  Burmese,  and 
the  many  tribes  of  India  ;  the  natives  of  Ceylon,  the  Bedouin 
Arab,  the  Egyptian,  the  Nubian  and  the  Syrian,  the  Armenian 
and  the  Turk,  the  Russian,  the  Persian  and  the  Greek,  and  the 
many  natives  of  the  continent,  are  not  unlike  the  Englishman 
and  the  American  in  this  respect  ;  all  seem  to  look  out  for  self, 
number  one,  before  the  million  ;  the  Jew  and  the  Gentile,  the 
Catholic  and  the  Protestant,  the  Christian  and  the  Infidel,  the 
Greek,  the  Turk  and  the  followers  of  Bhudah  and  Confucius, 
are  not  so  different  as  one  might  suppose,  for  in  self-preserva- 
tion and  love  of  money,  there's  a  wonderful  likeness  to  us  all. 
I  have  seen  them  on  their  own  soil  in  their  many  colored  gar- 
ments, and  heard  them  talk  their  tower  of  Babel  languages. 

In  all  these  lands  there's  a  wonderful  respect  for  England,  her 
army  and  her  navy  is  everywhere,  notwithstanding  the  Baltic 
and  the  Black  sea  fleet,  she  seems  to  have  a  man-of-war  at  every 
port.  No  wonder  Englishmen  are  so  proud  of  their  country, 
for  no  other  nation  has  done  what  she  has  done  ;  a  little  Island 
by  itself,  England  sends  her  martial  airs  into  every  corner  of  the 
world.  Go  through  the  Oriental  sea  and  you  will  find  English 
charts  and  English  surveys,  of  every  har.bor,  every  bay,  every 
river,  every  channel,  every  port  of  water,  where  commerce 
*  >"  »  '  * 


354  DIPLOMACY    AND    COMMERCE. 


could  be  introduced.  On  land  it  is  the  same,  her  geographical 
knowledge  is  wonderful.  With  credit,  with  capital  and  with 
steam,  she  has  for  a  long  time  ruled  the  finances  of  the  world  ; 
but  she  has  given  birth  to  a  powerful  rival,  America  is  still  at 
full  speed,  while  England  has  stopped  to  coal  !  We  are  now 
neck  and  neck  in  commerce.  Where  shall  we  be  thirty  years 
hence  ?  In  going  from  land  to  land,  one  prominent  fact  the 
tourist  is  sure  to  note  ;  wherever  you  find  an  English  man-of 
war,  you  will  most  likely  see  an  American  clipper  merchantman, 
and  wherever  you  see  an  English  Consulate,  there  you  will  find 
an  American  merchant.  England  knocks  down  the  gates  of 
stubborn  nations,  as  in  China,  and  America  walks  in  and  takes 
the  toll  of  commerce.  John  Bull  fights,  Jonathan  negotiates, 
but  will  fight  if  occasion  demands  it. 

But  'tis  bad  taste  to  provoke  each  other  to  another  trial  of 
strength.  Just  now  diplomacy  seems  of  war,  and  Palmerston 
is  disgusted  with  Marcy.  The  horizon  is  as  black  as  an  ink  bot- 
tle. I  don't  know  which  is  to  blame,  my  sentiments  have  always 
been  "  my  country  right."  I  will  now  amend  them,  and  say 
"right  or  wrong,  my  country  !"  I  hope  that  all  may  yet  be 
well,  for  self-destruction  is  terrible. 

"  Though  oceans  roll  between  us,  our  lands  are  far  apart, 
Though  rival  mothers  bore  us,  we  are  brothers  still  at  heart ; 
Let  us  think  upon  the  ancients  blood,  that  circles  in  our  veins, 
And  drain  the  cup  of  fellowship,  while  yet  a  drop  remains. 

So  here's  a  health  to  hallowed  Albion,  the  jewel  of  the  sea, 
And  her  daughter,  fair  Columbia,  the  happy  and  the  free; 
Long  may  their  sons  their  praises  sing,  in  friendship's  jovial  strains, 
And  drain  the  cup  of  fellowship  while  yet  a  drop  remains." 


*- 

ft 


PART  II. 

v  •«• 

AUSTRALIAN  CORRESPONDENCE 

TO   THE 

BOSTON  POST,  THE  LIVERPOOL  TIMES, 

fmti's  Pm]pfs  P»gap*,  fa. 


BE1.SG    AN    ACCOUNT    OF 


THE  RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TRADE  OF 


YOUNG  AMERICA  ABROAD. 

PART  II. 


CHAPTER    I. 

OFF  PORT  PHILIP,  ON  BOARD  SHIP  ) 
BAVARIA,  May  21,  1853.  J 

MY  DEAR  COLONEL  : — The  promises  of  the  past  and  the  in- 
clinations of  the  present  prompt  me  to  give  you  a  digest  of  an 
Australian  voyage.  Stale  and  unprofitable  as  is  the  subject  of 
an  ocean  letter,  it  may  be  worth  the  perusal  of  those  who  have 
a  touch  of  the  "  yellow  fever,"  and  are  about  expatriating  them- 
selves to  the  "  land  of  promise." 

Some  four  months  ago,  having  made  up  my  mind  to  step  out 
of  Broadway  into  Five  Points — or  in  other  words  to  leave  a 
"  bed  of  roses,"  perchance,  for  a  "  couch  of  thorns," — I  volun- 
tarily laid  upon  the  altar  of  youth's  desire  for  change  the  many 
sacrifices  of  all  the  happy  associations  of  my  boyhood's  home 
to  seek  my  fortune  under  the  golden  rays  of  Albion's  brightest 
star.  So,  full  of  adventure  and  the  novelty  of  the  enterprise, 
I  surrendered  myself  to  the  excitement  of  preparation.  Count- 
ing-house "  fixins  "  were  purchased,  clerks  engaged,  circulars 


358  OUT    AT    SEA A    STORM. 


distributed,  trunks  packed,  and,  what  was  most  important, 
bills  were  paid,  before  I  took  my  last  dinner  at  the  Winthrop  ! 
when,  with  a  light  heart,  I  gave  a  farewell  look  at  my  native 
city,  received  a  parting  "  God  bless  you "  from  many  kind 
friends  and  well  wishers,  (which  I  shall  cherish  in  kind  remem- 
brance with  the  hope  that  the  cordial  grasp  of  the  hand  at  my 
departure,  Deo  voknte,  I  may  feel  again  on  my  return)  bade  one 
more  long  good  bye  to  those  I  love,  secured  a  late  copy  of  the 
Post,  got  into  the  cars  just  as  the  Train  was  leaving,  jumped 
on  board  the  Bavaria  at  New  York,  stopped  two  days  at  quar- 
antine windbound,  weighed  our  anchor,  spread  our  canvas,  and 
notwithstanding  a  full  ship,  drawing  twenty-eight  feet,  here  we 
are  off  Port  Philip  in  92  days. 

Fortune  has  favored  us  with  good  winds,  and  we  have  made 
the  most  of  them.  We  drove  a  capital  bargain  out  of  the  trades, 
twenty-three  days  the  north  casters  gave  us  to  the  line,  thirty-five 
of  the  south-easters  carried  us  to  the  Cape,  when  the  variables 
took  us  in  clipper  time.  The  weather  was  "  n-e-v-e-r  b-e-t-t-e-r," 
save  in  the  first  week  out,  when  we  had  it  so  "  rough "  'twas 
fortunate  it  found  us  "  ready."  This  was  the  only  gale  that 
made  our  acquaintance,  and  we  had  so  much  of  it  that  we  did 
not  wish  an  introduction  to  another.  It  was  of  the  kind  that 
drives  a  landsman  to  the  conclusion  that  a  sailor  earns  his  wages. 

Hardly  had  the  excitement  of  departure  darkened  into  the 
simple  fact  of  our  being  fairly  out  at  sea,  and  the  thousand 
incidents  of  the  shore  been  reproduced  on  the  brain,  when  the 
winds  did  blow,  the  snow  descended,  the  waves  did  roll  and  beat 
upon  our  gallant  ship,  and,  I  do  assure  you,  great  was  the 
motion  thereof  1 

Oh  that  awful  storrn  !  how  well  I  do  remember  it.  From 
Saturday  night  till  Monday  morning  wrapt  in  the  entangled 


THE    SHIP    IN   THE    STORM.  359 


sheets  of  a  stateroom  bedstead,  I  brooded  upon  the  "  change 
that  come  over  the  spirit  of  my  dreams."  Yesterday,  luxuriat- 
ing upon  the  pleasures  of  anticipation  at  home  ;  to-day,  dying 
while  ringing  the  changes  of  a  villainous  realization  in  mid  ocean. 
Early  in  the  evening  we  heard  the  order  given  to  take  in  sail. 
Would  to  God,  we  thought,  that  they  could  reduce  the  motion 
also  !  but  it  was  not  so  "nominated  in  the  bond."  We  cQuld 
only  put  our  trust  in  Him,  to  use  a  Cromwellism,  and  keep  our 
staterooms  dry.  There  we  were  lying  to  in  a  heavy  cross  sea, 
momentarily  expecting  an  affectionate  embrace.  Nature's  sweet 
restorer  fled  our  presence,  although  we  all  would  have  consigned 
ourselves  to  Morpheus  at  a  high  commission,  but  sleep  was  not 
to  be  had  at  any  price.  Good  gracious  1  Look  at  our  position. 
The  maddened  winds  were  blowing  wild  cats  through  the  rig- 
gings, and  we  heard  nothing  but  the  dismal  bowlings  of  the 
frightened  waves,  the  hoarse  creaking  of  the  shaking  masts,  the 
rubbing  of  the  chafing  gear,  the  trumped-toned  orders  of  the 
fatigued  officers,  and  the  faint  "aye,  aye,  sir,"  of  the,  half 
drowned  seamen,  the  booming  of  some  intoxicated  sea  against 
ourside  light,  determined  to  come  in  whether  good  looking  or 
not,  the  hollow  death  rattle  that  told  in  living  language  the  sad 
mortality  of  the  poultry  cages,  (for  like  dead  pill  makers,  many 
of  our  ducks  had  ceased  to  quack,  and  the  geese  whose  patri- 
otic ancestors  did  so  much  for  Rome,  were  not  equal  to  their  own 
salvation.  The  staving  of  watercasks,  and  the  smashing  of  crock- 
ery, the  shipping  of  seas,  and  the  unshipping  of  cargo,  all  re- 
minded me  of  the  friends  I  had  left  behind  me,  in  particular,  and 
of  the  mutability  of  human  life  in  general.  Sacrilegious  as  was 
the  thought  at  such  a  moment,  the  Irishman's  prayer  came  into 
my  mind,  when  in  a  similar  predicament,  where  he  appealed  to 
all  the  powers  above  and  below,  separately  and  all  together,  fo1 


360  APPEARANCE    OF    MY    ROOM. 


«    V 

aid,  saying  he  had  never  troubled  'em  much,  and  if  they  would 
let  him  off  aisy  this  time  he  would  never  trouble  'em  again,  and 
I  could  not  help  laughing  heartily  at  the  remembrance.  As  I 
lay  in  my  figure  of  four  attitude,  I  speculated  upon  the  chances 
of  my  little  bedstead  outliving  the  storm  I  A  most  amusing 
cotillion  occurred  between  trunks,  bandboxes,  bathing  tubs, 
washboards,  pitchers,  &e.f  all  moving  under  some  mysterious 
impulse.  Here  a  small  delicate  Chinese  workbox  proposed  a 
polka  with  the  valise,  and  the  clothes  bag  led  off  the  hatbox  in 
a  Schottische  I  Trunks — forward  and  back — pitchers  cross  over 
— change  partners — back  to  places — bathing-tub  and  bandbox 
lead  to  the  right — balance— washbowls  ditto — tip  over,  smash 
up  and  change  hands  with  the  pitchers — all  promenade — grand 
right  and  left !  Next,  two  trunks  cross  over  and  pitch  into  the 
bedstead — leave  one  of  them  on  the  top  of  madam's  best  bon- 
net— right  and  left  with  the  other — change  with  the  broken 
washbowl — all  back  to  places — all  belay — luff  and  bear  off  ! 
Scene  closes  with  a  grand  tableaux  of  delightful  confusion  ! 

After  some  thirty-six  hours  of  uncompromising  nightmare 
and  unconquerable  sea  sickness,  I  followed  the  Defenders  advice 
to  Col.  Hayne  and  took  an  observation  !  Behold  a  miracle  !  my 
bed  was  standing  !  No  Roman  wall  could  have  withstood  such 
a  furious  battery.  I  got  a  peep  at  the  sky  ;  the  clouds  had 
disappeared.  I  saw  the  ocean  ;  the  waves  were  trembling  with 
their  last  night's  spree  ;  and  cutting  up  a  swell  that  would  have 
disgusted  a  Broadway  dandy.  The  winds  bad  bottled  up,  in 
part  their  bellowing.  The  ship  had  found  her  natural  position, 
and  was  ploughing  through  the  water  something  like  a  har- 
pooned whale.  I  looked  about  the  room.  Had  all  the  imps 
of  Pandemonium  joined  in  the  dance  of  the  preceding  night  it 
could  not  have  looked  in  a  more  disordered  state.  The  floor 


APPEARANCE    OF   MYSELF.  3 


was  covered  with  the  spoils  ;  my  best'  beaver,  a  five  dollar  cas- 
tor from  Rhodes' — was  as  flat  as  your  hand  ;  one  of  my  boots' 
only  hove  in  sight,  and  that  was  filled  with  small  pieces  of 

•j 

lemon  peel,  bits  of  apple,  cracker,  etc.,  which  I  could  have 
sworn  I  had  eaten  a  day  or  two  before  ;  my  inexpressibles  were 
shoved  between  two  trunks  ;  my  coat  I  extricated  from  the 
washstand,  and  finally,  Herculean  as  was  the  task,  I  completed 
my  toilet  !  Although  not  a  spiritual  medium,  I  am  somewhat 
fond  of  my  glass,  so  I  gave  one  look,  it  was  enough,  Tittlebat 
Titmouse  could  not  have  looked  worse  after  his  third  trial  of 
the  hair  dye.  My  delicate  Indian  complexion  had  been  trans- 
formed into  a  villainous  Chinese.  A  settled  disgust  was  painted 
over  our  features,  but  an  unsettled  state  of  things  was  still  upon 
my  stomach.  The  "  capillary  substance  on  the  summit  of  my 
cranium "  flared  out  like  a  chesnut  burr.  In  the  language  of 
the  immortal  Christy,  "  each  particular  hair  stood  on  end — 

Like  squills  upon  the  speckled  turpentine." 

I  went  into  cabin  and  there  met  with  other  spectral  forms, 
who  did  stare,  and  gape  and  yawn,  bnt  none  laughed.  Out  of 
three  and  twenty  passengers  there  were  but  two  at  the  break- 
fast table,  one  at  each  end.  The  captain  gave  orders  to  close 
up.  Nuf  zed.  I  was  bold  enough  to  swallow  a  bowl  of  mush 
and  milk,  which  could  not  have  found  its  way  back  again  quick- 
er if  it  had  been  shot  out  of  a  gun. 

Some  days  passed  before  "  Richard  was  himself  again,"  and 
having  no  desire  to  tax  our  patience  further  to-day, s  would 
most  respectfully  request  permission  in  the  morning  to  resume 
my  homely  journal. 


* 


CHAPTER    II. 

RT  PHIL 
BAVARIA,  May  22,  1853 


OFF  PORT  PHILIP,  ON  BOARD  SHIP  j 
•  ) 


. 

I  GAVE  you  yesterday  the  Alpha  of  ray  voyage,  but  find  lit- 
tle worth  recording  in  the  Omega.  Had  we  overhauled  some 
dismasted  ship  ;  or  even  had  our  own  misfortunes  obliged  us  to 
make  some  foreign  port,  I  would  have  pledged  myself  for  a 
thousand  incidents  that  might  have  arrested  your  attention. 
But,  thank  God,  no  such  painful  duty  awaits  me.  A  long  voy- 
age furnishes  but  few  items  worth  "  making  a  note  on."  An 
occasional  sail  on  the  horizon's  verge,  a  school  of  porpoises, 
hopping  up  like  "  baby  jumpers,"  under  the  bow,  the  parvenu 
ugliness  of  the  pupils  of  a  blackfish  school,  in  comparison  with 
the  beautiful  symmetry  and  more  patrician  aspect  of  the  many 
colored  dolphin,  as  unlike  as  cloud  and  sunshine,  the*  whizzing 
past  of  a  flying  fish  in  the  calm  latitudes,  or  a  whale  spouting 
in  the  distance,  the  scooping  of  a  gull,  the  heavy  roll  of  an  alba- 
tross, or  the  more  graceful  flight  of  a  stormy  petrel,  is  all  we 
have  at  sea  to  relieve  its  monotony.  There  seems  to  be  as  many 
species  of  birds  on  the  ocean  as  there  are  kinds  of  heather  in 
the  inoors  of  Caledonia. 

One  hundred  days  is  a  long  while  for  those  who  have  led  an 
active  life  to  be  cooped  up  in  the  limited  space  of  a  poop  deck. 
No  matter  how  agreeable  our  companions,  we  manage  to  get 
heartily  tired  of  them  before  we  land.  They  wear  like  a  new 


SUNSET   AT    SEA.  863 


coat  for  a  little  while,  but  soon  become  threadbare.  The  only 
thing  that  is  not  monotonous  is  the  setting  of  the  sun.  Had  I 
any  poetry  in  my  composition  I  would  try  and  paint  the  picture, 
but  I  should  find  it  as  difficult,  I  fear, -as  it  was  for  Copper- 
field  to  sleep  with  "  one  eye  open  ! "  There  can  be  but  one 
tiling  that  will  bear  comparison  with  such  a  flood  of  beauty, 
and  that  is  when  it  rises.  It  may  be  my  imagination,  but  I 
fancy  that  the  view  is  more  gorgeous  in  the  Southern  Ocean 
than  in  the  North  Atlantic.  Night  after  night  I  have  watched 
his  disappearance  below  the  horizon,  and  wondered  how  an 
atheist  could  gaze  upon  such  a  picture  and  doubt  the  existence 
of  a  God  !  No  two  evenings  does  it  appear  to  me  the  same — 
one  day  we  have  all  the  landscape  scenery  that  ornaments  the 
Hudson,  commingled  with  the  stalactite  beauty  of  a  Kentucky 
cave  by  candle  light,  while  the  next  resembles  more  the  inde- 
scribable richness  of  a  myriad  of  rainbows,  connected  together 
by  the  most  enchanting  scenes  that  the  fancy  can  furnish. 

The  resolutions  made  in  good  faith  on  shore  to  follow  some 
particular  study,  or  learn  another  language,  or  in  carrying  out 
any  definite  project,  soon  fall  through.  The  mind  will  not  be 
burdened  with  too  much  matter  of  fact. 

Perseverance  will  assist  you  for  a  while,  but  that  soon  slacks 
the  rein.  Books  I  found  the  best  time-killer.  Let  me  advise 
those  who  are  not  contented  with  the  pleasures  of  home,  but 
must  needs  wander  off  to  unknown  lands,  caring  more  for  the 
"  bird  in  the  bush"  than  "  in  the  hand  " — to  provide  themselves 
with  a  spare  trunk  full  of  such  companions.  A  judicious  selec- 
tion of  standard  works  are  a  luxury  on  shipboard,  that  bear  a 
priceless  value  to  the  lover  of  reading.  Works  of  the  lighter  sort 
arc  the  most  palatable.  Seldom  will  the  most  enthusiastic  stu- 


364  EQUIPMENTS    FOR   SEA AMUSEMENTS. 


dent  care  about  diving  far  into  the  mysteries  of  "  Butler's  An- 
alogy "  or  "  Smith's  Wealth  of  Nations"  when  on  the  ocean. 

Arguing  with  "  John  Bull "  that  it  is  as  essential  to  look  after 
the  physical  as  well  as  the  mental  appetite,  let  me  suggest  to 
the  Australian  voyager  the  propriety  of  packing  up  a  few  lux- 
uries to  be  opened  after  he  has  passed  the  Rubicon  of  sea-sick- 
ness !  A  few  drums  of  figs,  a  jar  or  two  of  prunes,  a  good 
assortment  of  jellies  and  preserves,  some  sardines  and  cider,  a 
dozen  or  so  of  soda  water,  some  oranges  and  lemons,  and  a  pack- 
age of  that  thin  home-made  gingerbread  will  never  come  out  of 
place,  no  matter  how  well  the  ship  is  furnished.  There  is  a  pe- 
culiar taste  to  such  delicacies  between  meals  that  you  cannot 
appreciate  at  home.  Then  having  provided  yourself  with  what 
ye  shall  eat  and  what  ye  shall  drink,  'tis  well  to  get  that  where- 
withal ye  shall  be  clothed  !  You  will  find  that  a  few  dozen  of 
seventy-five  cent  shirts  and  some  Oak  Hall  thin  coats  and  pants 
will  suit  the  outer,  as  well  as  the  above  luxuries  will  the  inner 
man ! 

The  entertaining  resources  of  the  most  prolific  passenger  are 
soon  exhausted.  Before  we  lose  the  northern  trades,  every 
man  has  discharged  the  anecdotes  with  which  his  memory  is 
loaded,  and  sung  his  last  song,  and  waits  patiently  with  Mr. 
Micawber  for  "  something  to  turn  up  1"  Our  amusements  are 
easily  enumerated.  Shuffleboard  was  most  resorted  to — a  game 
combining  exercise  with  pleasure,  played  with  quoits  and  que 
on  a  chalked  plan  like  children's  "  tit  tat  too,"  counting  fifteen 
each  way — familiar  to  most  sea-going  travelers.  The  fish  lines 
were  frequently  thrown  over  for  dolphin  and  other  bipeds,  but 
one  shark,  an  ugly  looking  customer,  was  the  only  trophy  taken. 
We  were  more  successful,  however,  with  the  feathered  tribe, 
having  several  alabatross  on  the  deck  at  a  time,  some  of  which 


A    VARIETY    OF    AMUSEMENTS.  365 


measured  twelve  feet  from  wing  to  wing.  The  captain  says  he 
has  seen  them  twenty,  They  are  a  queer  looking  bird,  having 
a  bill  as  long  as  a  French  innkeeper,  and  a  foot  like  a  cabbage 
leaf  !  The  first  officer  also  threw  the  harpoon  into  a  porpoise, 
which  we  soon  hauled  on  board,  and  a  day  passed  quickly  off 
with  the  excitement,  like  Paddy's  Bullfrog  it  seemed  the  four 
kinds  of  meat,  fish,  flesh  fowl  and  mackerel !  I  thought  it  quite 
palatable,  resembling  venison  more  than  anything  else. 

In  the  hot  latitudes  most  of  us  luxuriated  in  a  salt  water  bath 
under  the  bow-pnmp,  a  treat  which  we  imagined  threw  New- 
port and  Cape  May  entirely  in  the  shade,  some  of  the  venture- 
some went  overboard  before  the  shark  was  hooked,  but  after 
that  they  were  contented  with  the  pump  ablutions  !  Some  of 
the  Buckeyes  were  ambitious  to  make  exploring  expeditions  in 
the  rigging,  and  by  constant  practice,  one  of  the  most  resolute, 
up  to  the  time  of  my  writing,  has  got  as  far  as  the  maintop  ! 
A  paper  was  started 'devoted  to  literature,  politics,  religion,  the 
arts  and  sciences,  ethics  and  the  incidents  of  the  passage,  and 
flourished  under  the  soubriquet  of  the  Bavarian  Journal  ;  but 
just  as  we  had  added  the  Post  to  our  exchange  list,  after  three 
gasps,  (as  the  butcher's  boy  remarked  about  some  suspicious 
looking  veal,)  "  It  did  n't  die,  zactly  but  kinder  gin  aeout." 

One  day  our  sympathy  was  aroused  by  discovering  a  pig 
wedged  in  between  two  water  casks,  where  he  had  been  shoved 
during  the  storm — a  fortnight  fasting  had  reduced  him  to  a  per- 
fect Calvin  Edson,  and  the  moment  his  companions  got  a  glimpse 
of  the  stranger,  so  disgusted  were  they  with  his  skeleton  appear- 
ance, they  gave  one  yell,  and  pitched  into  him  on  every  tack, 
and  had  not  the  sailors  come  to  his  assistance  they  would  have 
soon  annihilated  what  remained  of  the  poor  shipwrecked  pork- 
er 1  I  may  not  be  accused  of  casting  pearls  before  swine  if  J 


366  OUR   BEST    BIT    OF    FUN. 


remark  (now  I  have  got,  past  the  aforesaid  quadrupeds,)  that  I 
could  but  look  upon  the  scene  as  a  fair  type  of  the  mutability 
of  mankind.  "  Friendship,  in  common  parlance,  is  a  hollow 
hearted  term,  but  in  its  true  garb,  is  a  messenger  sent  from 
heaven." 

After  tea,  conversation  usually  settled  into  whist ;  and  to 
show  how  uniformly  the  cards  will  run,  let  me  say  that  out  of 
five  hundred  games  played  at  our  table  we  only  led  our  oppo- 
nents ten  games. 

But  the  most  delectable  bit  of  sport  which  we  had  was  the 
"  crossing  of  the  line."  Whether  they  have  as  much  fun  on 
other  ships  I  cannot  say  ;  I  can  only  testify  as  to  my  own  ex- 
perience in  the  "  Bavaria."  It  was  understood  among  the  pas- 
sengers, during  the  afternoon,  that  the  sailors  were  preparing 
their  "  fixins,"  and  about  the  deck  we  were  all  on  the  qui  vive 
for  the  appearance  of  the  "  Ocean  Monarch,"  when  we  heard  a 
most  unearthly  noise  proceeding  from  the  forecastle,  which  the 
mate  informed  us  was  his  majesty's  sheet  iron  band,  playing, 
"see  the  conquering  hero  comes." 

This  concord  of  sweet  sounds  having  ceased,  a  grim  looking 
monster  with  a  large  trumpet  was  seen  protruding  his  head 
above  the  main  chains,  and  our  ears  were  again  besieged  by  his 
stentorian  majesty  asking  "  if  there  were  any  passengers  on 
board  the  Bavaria  who  bad  never  before  entered  Neptune's  do- 
minions ?  if  so,  he  should  demand  of  them  the  customary  tribute." 
The  words  had  hardly  found  an  echo  when  his  minions  pounced 
in  upon  us  from  all  quarters — some  from  aloft,  some  over  the 
ship's  side  ;  some  clambered  down  the  bowsprit,  and  all  dressed 
in  the  most  fantastic  garb  ;  and  really  their  costumes  were  most 
ingeniously  contrived.  One  bore  a  mammoth  quadrant ;  another 
carried  a  Muuchausen  compass  ;  a  third  was  provided  with  a 


CROSSING    OF   THE    LINK."  367 


monster  razor,  constructed  out  of  au  old  saw  ;  a  fourth  a  tar 
bucket ;  a  fifth  seemed  to  be  a  walking  barber's  shop,  in  short, 
they  were  all  furnished  with  some  emblematic  device,  Neptune's 
dress  fairly  out-Heroded  Herod.  He  looked  hideous  enough  to 
frighten  a  dog  out  of  a  tanyard  ;  and  as  the  glare  of  the  lan- 
tern shone  on  his  sturdy  followers,  with  their  masks,  and  black- 
ened faces,  and  uncouth  apparel,  one  could  hardly  help  feeling 
that  he  was  in  the  courtly  presence  of  his  Satanic  Highness. 
Xeptune  bade  his  clerk  call  the  names  of  the  passengers  in  ro- 
tation, and  requested  each  one  to  write  down  opposite  his  name 
the  sum  that  he  was  disposed  to  pay.  We  all  came  forward, 
and  the  result  showed  a  fair  amount  of  tobacco-money.  "  Tom 
Tit "  was  then  seized,  and,  in  less  time  than  I  can  relate  it,  was 
lathered  from  the  tar-bucket,  shaved  with  the  saw,  and  plunged 
into  a  tub  of  salt  water  several  times  in  the  most  reckless  man- 
ner, amid  the  shouts  of  both  forecastle  and  cabin.  The  sport 
was  at  its  height,  and  we  were  all  (with  the  exception  of  the 
ladies,  who  somehow  were  in  the  secret)  huddled  together, 
laughing  and  cracking  jokes  upon  poor  "  Tom,"  possibly  thinking 
who  might  be  the  next  victim,  when,  mirabile  dictu!  we  heard 
a  strange  noise  in  the  rigging,  and,  turning  to  ascertain  the  cause, 
we  were  all  completely  deluged  with  salt  water,  which  caused 
such  a  scampering  and  yelling  as  would  have  frightened  from 
his  stoicism  a  Camanche  Indian.  It  seems  that  Jack  had  during 
the  day  carried  several  buckets  of  water  into  the  maintop,  and, 
at  a  given  signal,  so  adroitly  was  the  thing  managed,  we  all  got 
drenched  I  The  shaving  of  Tom  Tit  was  only  a  decoy  to  get 
us  together.  The  tables  were  fairly  turned.  One  moment  we 
were  bursting  with  merriment  at  his  discomfiture,  but  the  next 
the  laugh  was  turned  upon  us. 

The  sailors  ended  the  festivities  with  a  dance,  after  which  we 


368  OUR    SPOKT    AT    NIGHT. 


thought  it  best  to  "  make  a  night  of  it,"  and  five  bells  in  the 
morning  watch  had  struck  before  we  thought  of  sleep.  I  never 
expect  to  enjoy  such  another  carnival  till  I  get  to  Rome.  Like 
Pleydell  in  Guy  Mannering,  we  threw  off  our  dignity,  and  en- 
tered into  competition  to  see  who  would  produce  the  loudest 
laugh.  The  principal  fear  amongst  us  all  was  that  some  one 
would  escape  his  share  of  salt  water.  For  my  part,  if  I  had 
been  thrown  overboard  I  could  not  have  been  more  thoroughly 
drenched. 

Here  we  are  in  sight  of  Point  Nepean,  and  wishing  you  every 
prosperity,  promising  to  send  you  my  impressions  of  the  republic 
in  embryo. 


CHAPTER    III. 

"  PKINCE  OF  WALES  "  HOTEL,  ) 

MELBOURNE,  June  29,  1853.      ) 

WHEN  I  gave  you  from  off  Port  Phillip  a  pen  and  ink  sketch 
of  "  life  on  the  ocean  wave  "  I  intimated  that  my  impressions 
of  this  mushroom  city  should  be  forthcoming  at  an  early  day. 
We  dropped  our  best  bower  in  Hobson's  Bay  on  the  23d  ultimo 
— so  you  see  I  have  had  some  little  time  to  look  about  me  ;  and 
you  must  not  shrug  your  shoulder  at  what  I  may  say,  for  be- 
lieve me,  I've  seen  some  things  that  your  landsmen  only  read 
of,  and  this  is  the  conclusion  that  I  have  not  "jumped  at" — 
that  within  the  short  space  of  ten  years  Melbourne  will  be  the 
great  commercial  emporium  of  this  part  of  the  world. 

Some  of  the  new  comers  I've  no  doubt  will  send  home  shock- 
ing accounts  of  matters  here  before  they  get  well  acquainted, 
and  well  they  may,  for  they  hear  a  thousand  reports  and  see 
some  queer  looking  sights  to  warrant  their  dislike.  Like  Punch 
on  purchasing  his  weekly  allowance  of  tea,  they  hope  for  the 
best,  but  are  hardly  prepared  for  the  worst.  On  leaving  home 
they  have  made  up  their  minds  to  find  a  different  state  of  things 
and  are  consequently  all  anxiety  to  make  the  discovery  long  ere 
they  are  fairly  housed. 

The  pilot  is  besieged  at  the  Heads,  the  custom  house  officer  is 
held  by  the  button,  the  emigration  agent  is  overloaded  with 
questions,  and  the  newsmen  are  taken  by  storm  by  importunate 
adventurers  who  are  desirous  of  anticipating  fortune.  Says  one 


370  LANDING    AT    MELBOURNE. 


who  has  staked  his  all  in  the  article,  with  a  most  anxious  look 
and  impatient  gesture,  "what's  the  price  of  flour?"  Another, 
with  his  family  at  his  back,  talks  of  the  "  chance  of  getting 
board."  A  tbird^  with  a  revolver  hi  each  pocket  and  a  brandy 
bottle  in  his  hand,  touches  on  the  state  of  society  !  Another 
begs  to  know  what  are  the  latest  dates  from  home.  A  fifth 
"expects  the  miners  are  doing  well."  And  so  they  go  till 
answerer  and  questioner  are  completely  exhausted.  The  tub  is 
washed,  the  pump  refuses  to  act ! 

The  passenger  then  having  discharged  his  last  shot,  gets  his 
trunks  together,  all  of  which  were  packed  before  he  saw  Cape 
Otway,  talks  with  an  important  air  of  respect  and  self-admira- 
tion of  his  future  prospects,  makes  patronizing  remarks  to  the 
stewards,  and  thinks  he  shall  make  the  officers,  with  whom  he 
has  not  been  on  speaking  terms  since  he  left  the  Cape,  a  pres- 
ent ! — is  perfectly  enchanted  with  the  beautiful  Bay  of  Port 
Philip,  and  swears  the  scenery  beats  anything  he  ever  saw — 
opens  very  wide  his  eyes  when  the  shipping,  covering  so  many 
acres  of  water,  bursts  upon  his  view,  asks  the  pilot,  looking 
towards  St.  Kilda,  "  if  that  are  place  aint  Melburn  ?" — shakes 
hands  with  the  captain  and  his  fellow  passengers,  with  whom 
he  has  become  as  much  disgusted  as  they  are  with  him,  (for  it 
seems  to  be  the  same  stereotyped  thing  on  board  of  every  pas- 
senger ship,  this  story  of  "  wrongs  endured  .and  afflictions 
borne" — the  one  party  swearing  it  an  utter  impossibility  to 
find  another  such  a  lot  of  rowdies  ! — while  the  other  affirms 
that  the  captain  is  no  gentleman,  and  only  fit  to  command  a 
whaler,)  steps  with  a  light  heart  and  a  quick  movement  on 
board  the  little  thirty  horse  power  side  wheel  steamer,  paying 
five  shillings  for  the  privilege,  and  groans  when  he  learns  that 
the  captain  and  supercargo  get  off  with  one,  passes  the  convict 


THOUGHTS    OF   THE    NEW    COMER.  871 


hulks  with  a  shudder,  jumps  ashore  at  Williamstown  where  the 
steamer  stops  for  passengers,  and  walks  up  and  down  the  pier, 
looking  at  the  thousand  and  one  boats  at  the  landing  and  com- 
ing in  from  every  direction,  manned  by  Lascars,  Manilla  men, 
Chinese  and  sailors  of  every  nation  and  color,  starts  again  with 
a  half  a  hundred  "  master  mariners''  who  are  jabbering  in  every 
language  about  his  ears,  wonders  if  the  bills  of  Melbourne  will 
be  as  long  as  those  of  the  pelicans  feeding  on  the  beach,  and  is 
surprised  to  see  hundreds  of  sea  birds  of  every  possible  kind  as 
tame  as  barnyard  fowls,  along  the  river's  mouth,  and  says 
"  yes,"  (interrogatively)  when  told  that  they  are  as  tame  as 
the  stork  in  Germany  or  the  "  adjutant "  in  Calcutta,  and  that 
the  authorities  will  not  allow  even  a  pistol  to  be  discharged  in 
the  bay  on  account  of  the  shipping. 

A  short  time  since  Melbourne  was  sufficiently  large  for  its 
commerce,  and  the  accommodations  were  fully  equal  to  the  wants 
of  the  city,  but,  presto  !  a  speck  of  gold  dust  is  picked  up  by 
some  shepherd  while  watering  his  flocks,  which  he  soon  discovers 
to  be  the  sentinel  of  a  golden  land, — more  are  found — nugget 
after  nugget  is  spread  before  his  astonished  senses  !  The  news 
like  wildfire  is  carried  over  the  world,  and  adventurers  of  every 
land  are  drawn  hither  by  the  powerful  magnet.  The  word  goes 
from  mouth  to  mouth,  "  what  a  place  this  will  be  if  the  gold 
holds  out  !"  Months  and  months  have  gone  by  and  new  mine? 
have  been  daily  discovered,  and  it  is  now  a  settled  belief  with 
the  practical  men  in  this  region  that  the  gold  fields  are  almost 
illimitable,  covering  thousands  of  square  miles,  and  now  they 
say  instead  of  what  a  place  it  will  be, — "what  a  city  it  has 
already  become." 

No,  the  new  comer  must  not  be  disappointed  with  his  first 
experience  ;  industry  and  enterprise  will  insure  him  his  heap  ; 


312  THE    RESOLUTION    TO    WORK. 


things  will  mend  in  due  time.  Let  him  get  an  office,  even  if  he 
does  pay  fifty  dollars  per  week  for  a  place  not  half  so  desirable 
as  your  editorial  sanctum ;  let  him  note  the  lay  of  the  land, 
and  find  a  satisfactory  boarding  house,  even  at  five  dollars  a  day. 
Let  him  go  up  on  the  hill  by  St.  Peters'  church  and  see  how 
large  the  streets  are,  and  how  regularly  they  are  laid  out,  cut- 
ting each  other  at  right  angles  as  in  the  newly  built  portion  of 
New  York.  Let  him  cast  his  eye  over  the  broad  common,  over 
the  beautiful  valley,  over  the  green  hills,  over  the  gum-tree 
forest,  over  the  "village  of  tents,"  over  the  numberless  ships 
in  the  bay,  and  over  the  suburban  towns.  Let  him  arise  at 
early  dawn  and  observe  the  sun  shed  its  indescribable  beauty 
over  the  heavens,  differing  entirely  in  appearance  from  our  part 
of  the  world.  Let  him  make  up  his  mind  that,  "  I  cavSt  do  it 
never  accomplished  anything,"  and  "  that  I  will  try  has  wrought 
wonders."  Let  him  decide  to  look  upon  the  bright  side  of  every 
thing,  and  my  word  for  it  he  is  certain  to  develope  his  "  gold 
field  " — he  is  sure  to  be  satisfied  that  he  was  induced  to  try  his 
fortune  in  this  distant  land. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

"PRINCE  or  WALES"  HOTEL,  ) 

MELBOURNE,  June  23,  1853.  J 

I  HAVE  already  addressed  you  by  this  mail,  giving  the  new 
comer's  first  experience,  and  as  I  am  aware  how  anxious  your 
readers  must  be  to  get  hold  of  every  information  about  this 
golden  country,  I  will  jot  down  something  a  little  more  practi- 
cal. 

I  have  said  that  I  am  agreeably  surprised  with  the  general 
appearance  of  Melbourne.  The  city  could  not  have  been  better 
planned  and  located  for  residences,  but  not  for  business.  Col- 
lins street  is  the  Broadway,  and  Flinders  lane  is  Wall  street,  the 
one  having  several  respectable  looking  dry  goods  stores,  the 
other  lined  with  counting  houses  and  brokers'  offices.  The  mer 
chants  mostly  reside  in  the  suburbs,  and  drive  in  their  dog  carfr. 
or  come  on  the  saddle  into  town.  I  say  the  city  is  well  located 
for  residences,  but  not  at  all  well"  situated  for  business — Wil- 
liamstown  having  decidedly  the  preference,  on  account  of  its 
proximity  to  the  shipping.  I  can  see  no  reason  why  piers  could 
not  be  built  out  from  this  latter  place  for  vessels  to  discharge, 
instead  of  this  odious  system  of  lighterage.  All  that  is  required 
is  a  little  of  the  San  Francisco  style  of  doing  things.  Wharves 
need  not  be  run  out  so  far  here  to  find  a  deep  water  berth  as 
there,  and  the  only  objection  that  can  arise  is  the  want  of  high 
land  to  fill  in  with,  and  the  scarcity  of  timber.  There  are  now 
some  one  hundred  and  fifty  small  one  story  buildings,  in  the 


374  THE    SITUATION'    OF    MELBOURNE. 


town,  which  I  hope  will  soon  give  way  to  warehouses.  If  the 
new  houses  would  say  the  word  and  start  the  project,  we  could 
quickly  accomplish  a  change.  At  so  late  a  day  it  may  be  diffi- 
cult to  turn  the  current. 

Lord  Melbourne  pitched  his  tent  nine  miles  from  the  Yarra's 
mouth  on  account  of  better  water,  and  where  the  town  first 
started  I  suppose  will  be  its  centre.  But,  like  dropping  a  peb- 
ble in  the  water,  the  place  will  continue  to  widen  till  it  has 
swallowed  up  Collingwood,  Richmond,  St.  Kilda,  Sandridge  and 
all  the  adjoining  towns.  Should  nothing  be  done  at  Williams- 
town,  Sandridge  is  the  next  desirable  place  for  wharves.  The 
principal  difficulty  here  is  the  southwest  winds,  which  sometimes 
sweep  over  the  place  at  a  fearful  rate,  the  trees  all  bending  to 
its  influence  as  in  the  north  of  England.  A  substantial  break- 
water after  the  manner  of  the  western  lakes  would  be  a  good 
shelter  for  the  shipping,  and  then  piers  could  be  run  out  as  on 
the  other  side.  One  or  two  have  already  been  built,  and,  if 
found  practicable,  more  will  follow.  This,  however  must  be  the 
work  of  government — the  owner  of  the  property.  Individuals 
will  not  embark  in  any  new  enterprise.  Many  came  here  with 
nothing,  who  are  now  the  wealthiest  men  of  the  place,  but  they 
will  not  invest  their  money  in  improvements  ;  they  simply  place 
it  where  they  realize  pound  for  pound,  and  go  home  to  England 
to  buy  a  position  and  a  name !  Sandridge  is  but  two  miles 
from  the  city,  and  is  connected  by~  a  macadamized  road,  which, 
in  fair  weather,  is  the  most  desirable  .way  of  getting  up.  As 
soon  as  the  railroad  is  completed,  about  two  years,  this  route  in 
a  great  measure  will  supersede  the  Yarra  -  Yarra.  There  is 
very  little  grading  for  the  track,  the  sleepers  are  already  in  the 
ground,  and  we  are  now  waiting  for  the  rails  and  cars,  which 
were  ordered  last  January  by  the  "  Chusan."  Even  now  many 

~ 


WANT    OF    TIMBER    IN    TUK    COLONY.  315 


prefer  to  land  on  this  side  and  walk  up,  rather  than  take  steam 
on  the  river. 

Melbourne,  though  situated  so  far  out  of  the  way,  cannot  fail 
to  be  a  great  city.  All  we  require  is  a  little  energy  and  a  good 
deal  of  money  to  make  the  wheel  turn  rapidly.  The  "  old 
chums  "  will  not  budge  from  the  office,  and  take  as  little  pride 
about  putting  things  in  shape  as  we  should  in  fencing  in  Tim- 
buctoo.  We  must  introduce  a  sprinkling  of  Yankeeism  here 
and  show  the  residents  the  meaning  of  despatch  !  Send  us  out 
fifty  or  a  hundred  thousand  good  mechanics,  and  we  will  soon 
find  something  for  them  to  do.  Let  them  go  down  to  St.  Johns 
N.  B.,  for  some  working  material,  and  I  will  guarantee,  if  the 
gold  holds  out,  which  is  beyond  the  possibility  of  a  doubt,  that 
they  will  soon  better  their  own  condition  as  well  as  the  appear- 
ance of  the  city. 

Put  timber,  bricks  and  cement  in  the  hold,  and  fill  up  your 
cabin  and  between  decks  with  able-bodied  laborers,  and  you  will 
have  a  cargo  that  will  be  of  great  value.  I  cannot  learn  that 
there  is  any  considerable  timber  growing  in  the  colony.  I  am 
told  there  is  nothing  of  consequence  here  but  the  gum  tree — a 
knotty,  crooked  growth,  resembling  somewhat  the  wild  apple. 
The  nearest  large  supply  of  timber  to  Victoria  is  New  Zealand 
and  Van  Diemen's  Land,  (now  called  Tasmania)  but  they  have 
not  the  saw  mills  to  work  with.  The  Kauri  pine  is  a  splendid 
wood,  and  suitable  for  spars  of  100  feet.  It  planes  well,  is  a 
little  harder  than  our  white  pine,  and  can  be  had  in  great  quan- 
tities. I  am  told  that  there  are  also  some,  superior  furniture 
woods  in  the  islands.  I  hardly  think,  however,  that  it  can  be 
laid  down  here  so  cheap  as  it  can  be  sent  from  the  States  or  the 
North  American  provinces. 

As  before  remarked,  we  have  an  enormous  capital  here,  but 


376  ENORMOUS    CAPITAL, — BUT    XO    BUSINESS. 


lack  the  spirit  that  builds  the  railroad  across  the  Isthmus  or 
starts  one  to  the  Pacific — the  hidden  spring  of  New  England's 
prosperity.  Look  at  Lawrence,  and  Chicago,  and  Cincinnati, 
and  San  Francisco  1  Babes  in  the  wood  in  the  morning,  but 
full  grown  men  at  night  1  So  rich  are  they  in  this  place,  that 
the  banks  are  all  working  on  deposits  for  which  they  allow  no 
interest,  not  having  any  of  their  capital  employed,  and  the 
revenue  is  beyond  my  calculation  ;  and  yet  we  have  no  railroad, 
no  lightning  wires,  no  gas  lamps,  no  marine  communication  by 
telegraph  to  the  heads,  no  water  works,  no  Yankee  inventions 
of  any  kind,  no  saw  mills,  no  steam  engines  worth  mentioning, 
no  planing  machines,  no  paint  mills,  no  hotels  that  can  compare 
with  the  Waterloo,  not  even  a  wharf  that  deserves  the  name, 
or  sufficient  accommodations  for  the  immense  quantity  of  mer- 
chandise that  is  tumbling  in  upon  us  from  all  parts  of  the  world! 
The  unprecedented  immigration  has  swelled  the  limits  of  the 
city  almost  to  bursting,  but  no  energetic  men  step  forward  for 
its  relief.  Government  holds  on  to  the  land  with  a  Shy  lock's 
grasp,  and  puts  off  purchasers  with  the  humdrum  story  that 
they  are  waiting  for  the  colonial  surveyor  to  come  from  Eng- 
land. The  true  reason  I  surmise  is,  they  are  fearful  of  a  de- 
cline in  prices  if  they  shove  too  much  upon  the  market  at  once. 
All  the  unoccupied  lands  within  and  without  the  city,  save  what 
are  in  the  hands  of  a  few  wealthy  men  are  clutched  as  with  a 
miser's  avarice. 


CHAPTER  V. 

"  PRINCE  OF  WALES  "  HOTEL,  ) 

MELBOURNE,  Aug.  1,  1853.  j 

FOUR  weeks'  time  has  produced  a  magic  change  in  our  facili- 
ties for  doing  business.  Our  squatter  governor  could  not  resist 
the  tremendous  force  of  the  merchants'  indignation  meeting, 
regarding  the  horrid  condition  of  the  wharves,  and  so  he  imme« 
diately  marshalled  his  energies  to  the  task  of  cleansing  the  Au- 
gean stables  of  Melbourne  commerce  ;  and  such  an  improvement 
as  has  been  made  we  seldom  see  in  so  short  a  time.  Heavy 
timber  was  placed  on  a  stone  foundation  and  then  covered  with 
thick  plank  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  the  deep  gullies  and 
stagnant  pools,  which  for  so  long  a  period  was  called  a  road, 
were  filled  in  some  two  feet  deep  with  stone  and  gravel,  and 
now  we  have  a  nice  macadamized  thoroughfare  the  whole 
length  of  the  quay,  and  a  raised  foot-path  for  pedestrians. 
Some  two  hundred  carts  have  been  kept  constantly  at  work 
carting  gravel  and  metal  (as  they  call  broken  stone,)  at  the 
rate  of  one  thousand  loads  a  day  1  and  all  the  laborers  that 
could  work  to  advantage  have  been  hard  at  it  since  last  I  wrote 
you. 

Other  changes  are  rapidly  taking  place,  and  should  we  ever 
be  so  fortunate  as  to  get  that  valuable  and  long  promised  con- 
signment from  England,  "  The  Colonial  Engineer,"  we  may 
possibly  have  some  docks  built — a  ship  canal  to  Sandridge, 
and  a  thousand  and  one  other  "river  and  harbor  improve- 


378  HUNTING    FOR   THE    NEWS-ROOM. 


ments,"  which  the  wants  of  the  place  so  much  require.  The 
legion  of  new  comers,  real  Simon  Pure  Yankees — solid  go-a- 
head Englishmen,  hard-working,  quick-witted,  close-fisted  Ger- 
mans, etc.,  etc.,  that  are  flocking  into  Melbourne  act  as  leaven 
upon  the  residents  who  never  before  dreamed  of  the  possibility 
of  going  beyond  their  own  office  to  transact  business  !  "When 
I  was  coming  ashore,  some  eight  or  ten  weeks  since,  I  naturally 
enough  asked  the  boatman  if  there  was  any  news-room  at  Mel- 
bourne ?  "  What  ?  "  said  he,  with  a  broad  Yorkshire  accent — 
"  Is  there  any  exchange  room  up  town,"  I  repeated.  "  I  rather 
think  not  unless  she  arrived  yesterday,"  was  the  satisfactory  re- 
ply. But  I  cannot  wonder  that  the  poor  boatman  consider  a 
vessel  the  true  meaning  of  the  term,  when  asked  the  question 
of  the  two  or  three  Americans  in  port  and  found  my  query 
answered  in  the  negative — I  saw  some  of  the  old  houses  of  the 
place  and  wandered  from  man  to  man  to  get  the  required  infor- 
mation, but  alas  no  one  I  met  ever  heard  of  such  a  singular 
place  as  a  news-room  in  Melbourne. 

Determined  to  trace  something  in  that  line  I  steered  for  the 
newspapers,  and  ascertained  that  they  got  their  ship  news  from 
their  own  agent  whom  they  kept  constantly  in  the  bay  to  board 
ships  as  they  came  in,  and  that  one  of  them  had  a  "commercial 
reporter  at  a  hall  called  Lloyds  Room,  back  of  the  Royal  Hotel." 
Off  I  went,  and  after  winding  my  way  through  a  noisy  bar  full 
of  hard  drinkers,  and  sundry  tortuous  passages,  I  found  the 
place.  No  wonder  no  one  could  tell  me  of  its  location.  I  should 
as  soon  have  thought  of  finding  Father  Taylor  at  the  Liverpool 
amphitheatre,  or  a  church  in  "five  points,"  as  a  commercial 
exchange  in  the  rear  of  a  Slopshop  Inn  ! 

I  looked  about  me,  not  a  soul  to  be  seen,  nothing  but  a  few 
Australian  papers  on  one  table,  some  Government  Gazettes  on 


W*    START    AN    EXCHANGE.  379 


another,  and  one  man  at  a  third,  whom  I  accidently  happened 
to  notice.  I  saw  the  manager  of  the  room,  Mr.  Wilson,  and 
he  told  me  the  use  of  the  place,  and  showed  me  the  book  of 
arrivals  and  clearances  which  he  had  kept  since  January  1st. 
That  was  all — nothing  else  to  be  seen  ;  no  book  for  imports  ; 
none  for  exports  ;  no  commercial  record  ;  no  report  of  the 
brokers'  board  ;  no  statistics  whatever  ;  not  one  single  fact  to 
show  the  commerce  of  this  young  but  flourishing  city  !  The 
gentleman  kindly  told  me  that  a  board  of  underwriters  occasion- 
ally met  there,  and  that  the  committee  of  the  chamber  of  com- 
merce met  in  one  of  the  rooms  in  the  hotel.  He  said  that  he 
had  tried  to  get  the  merchants  to  meet  together,  but  they  would 
never  think  of  leaving  their  business  to  listen  to  the  "  talk  on 
'change."  "  Too  busy  "  was  invariably  the  answer.  Only  think 
of  it ;  a  city  with  such  a  maritime  fleet,  and  yet  no  place  where 
merchants  could  meet  at  a  certain  hour  of  the  day  to  get  an 
exchange  of  ideas  !  How  odd  it  would  seem  not  to  go  on 
'change  in  Liverpool,  or  London,  or  Glasgow,  or  Xew  York, 
Boston,  San  Francisco,  or  any  other  large  commercial  port,  no 
matter  how  new  the  place  ?  I  felt  almost  lost,  and  resolved  if 
I  conld  not  bring  in  the  old  that  I  would-  get  together  the  new 
chums.  I  suggested  it  to  Mr.  Wilson  ;  he  was  ready  to  meet 
me.  I  paid  my  first  subscription  of  three  guineas,  and  by  pin- 
ning every  American  who  arrived  to  establish  a  house,  and 
taking  in  the  Yankee  captains,  we  soon  got  a  respectable'  body 
to  meet  at  two  o'clock.  Some  of  the  old  chums  followed  our 
example,  and  in  a  very  short  time  it  really  reminded  me  of  home. 
By  meeting  in  this  way  we  were  enabled  to  compare  notes  re- 
garding the  markets,  and  the  result  was,  a  price  current  was 
started  under  the  patronage  of  some  fifty  houses — the  first  pub- 
lic one  I  believe  ever  issued  in  this  city.  We  were  getting  along 


380         WE  CONSULT  THE  GOVERNOR  ABOUT  IT. 


swimmingly,  when,  presto  !  a  Yankee  hotel  was  on  the  tapis, 
and  the  first  notice  we  had,  the  news-room  was  closed.  A  Mr. 
Moss,  of  the  Metropolitan  Restaurant,  had  bought  the  lease  of 
the  premises  for  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  was  going  to  erect 
a  Burnet  House  to  astonish  the  natives  !  and,  disregarding  Mr. 
Wilson  and  his  supporters,  he  sent  us  all  flying.  We  were  glad 
to  see  a  splendid  American  hotel  going  up,  but  sorry  to  lose  our 
place  of  meeting  till  a  new  one  was  provided.  However,  we 
were  turned  out  without  the  least  ceremony,  which  I  believe  will 
result  favorably  ;  for  a  simple  taste  of  the  many  advantages  of 
an  exchange  so  increased  the  appetite  that  a  proper  building 
was  mooted,  and  Mr.  Kuhl,  with  praise-worthy  energy  has  been 
successful  with  his  subscription  paper. 

A  Committee  was  appointed  to  wait  upon  his  excellency  for 
a  suitable  piece  of  land  for  the  building,  and  your  obedient  ser- 
vant, as  one  of  them,  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  the  gover- 
nor for  the  first  time.  He  was  very  polite,  but  decidedly  non- 
committal. He  bowed  to  the  delegation,  talked  with  the  chair- 
man, referred  to  his  council,  said  there  was  very  little  land 
in  town  that  was  not  already  disposed  of,  intimated  that  the 
cause  was  a  glorious  one,  promised  to  give  it  his  distinguished 
consideration,  was  glad  to  see  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  such 
intelligent  men,  hoped  that  our  views  would  be  carried  out,  did 
not  speak  of  the  colonial  engineer  !  bowed  once  more  to  us  col- 
lectively, made  a  slight  movement  towards  the  door,  when  it 
accidently  happened  to  strike  us  that  it  was  time  to  go.  Some 
left  the  executive  mansion,  I  for  one,  thinking  that  when  the 
government  gave  us  land  for  an  Exchange  the  stock  would  be  at 
a  premium  !  But  as  it  is  in  strong  hands,  I  think  we  shall  have 
one  erected  whether  the  governor  helps  us  or  not.  At  a  pre- 
liminary meeting  of  the  subscribers  it  was  suggested  that  a  suit- 


BUILDINGS—  ENOUMOUS    HIGH    RENTS.  381 


able  statue  of  Queen  Victoria  should  be  placed  iii  front  of  the 
building.  Of  course  it  would  have  been  bad  taste  for  me  to 
have  intimated  that  they  had  better  get  their  cage  before,  &c, ; 
or,  as  there  were  so  many  Americans  on  the  spot,  to  move  an 
amendment  that  another  statue  of  Washington  should  also  be 
erected  there  ! 

Stone  buildings  are  shooting  up  on  every  street,  and  lumber 
and  brick  are  bought  up  at  great  profits  to  the  shipper  as  soon 
as  arrived.  The  corporation  are  doing  everything  in  their  pow- 
er to  put  the  streets  in  shape,  and  if  they  continue  improving 
the  appearance  of  things  in  the  same  ratio,  that  stereotyped  slan- 
der, which  every  book  quoted,  and  to  which  even  Meagher 
alluded  in  his  lecture  on  Australia,  of  "  another  child  lost  in  the 
streets  of  Melbourne,"  will  be  entirely  obsolete  !  If  the  govern- 
ment and  the  corporation  and  the  citizens  would  all  pull  to- 
gether, we  would  soon  have  Melbourne  looking  as  trim  as  your 
housewife  s  pantry.  When  "  Barkis  is  williu',"  you  can  do  any- 
thing. 

Notwithstanding  the  numerous  new  erections,  rents  are  some 
thirty  per  cent,  above  the  value  of  money.  Can  sucli  an  un- 
healthy position  of  things  last  ?  I  fancy  not.  Who  pay  these 
enormous  rents  ?  The  old  chums  ?  No  ;  they  came  before  the 
mines  opened  their  treasures,  and  the  buildings  they  now  occupy 
were  put  up  two  years  and  more  ago  for  about  the  same  sum  as 
they  now  charge  new  comers  for  one  year's  rental !  The  ques- 
tion naturally  arises,  if  young  houses  who  start  with  the  con- 
signments of  merchandise  for  their  capital  (which  they  are 
obliged  to  force  off  through  mock  auctions  to  raise  money  to 
pay  the  freight,  at  a  great  sacrifice),  pay  these  unheard  of  rents, 
(beating  San  Francisco  fairly  off  the  track)  for  offices  and  ware- 
houses, and  their  personal  expenses  being  in  proportion,  will  the 


382  SEEKING    FOR    BOARD XKWSI'AI'ERS. 


goods  bear  it?  It  strikes  me  not.  What  is  the  consequence  ? 
We  must  wait  and  let  time  answer  the'query. 

I  saw  a  small  one  story  house  rented  on  a  five  years  lease  at 
$3500  per  annum.  We  could  build  at  home  three  such  tene- 
ments for  that  figure.  This  was  out  at  Collingwood.  On  apply- 
ing at  another  place  on  the  strength  of  a  flowery  advertisement 
of  four  stylish  houses  at  fifty  dollars  per  week,  we  found  it  in 

a  very  bad  street,  but  it  had  but  three attic  !  cellar  !  and 

yard  !  I  advertised  for  "  board  for  a  gentleman  and  his  wife  in 
a  desirable  location  iu  a  genteel  family — none  but  the  highest  re- 
spectability need  apply."  Well,  the  office  the  next  morning  was 
crowded,  butchers,  bakers,  blacksmiths,  and  a  battalion  of 
others  had  the  desired  rooms,  but  they  did  not  exactly  suit  me, 
till  a  good  looking  "  widder"  came  in,  and  I  was  so  prepossessed 
in  her  favor  that  I  was  about  closing  for  her  apartments  on  her 
recommendation,  tfhen  she  happened  to  drop  a  word  or  two, 
which  soon  discouraged  me  from  attempting  to  get  board  in  a 
"  genteel  family  !"  The  rooms  that  we  were  to  have  were  en- 
tered through  a  small  grog  shop  of  which  she  was  the  proprie- 
tress !  So  here  I  am  and  intend  to  remain  at  the  "  Prince  of 
Wales  "  Hotel,  the  very  best  in  Melbourne,  large  rooms,  good 
location,  and  satisfactory  fare  for  only  $75  per  week  ! 

There  are  only  two  daily  papers  in  the  city,  the  Argus  and 
the  Herald.  The  former  is  a  paper  of  the  progressive  stamp. 
The  Herald  is  more  conservative,  and  bristles  up  and  gets  chol- 
eric, and  acts  like  a  very  naughty  child  when  a  fourth  of  July 
dinner  is  suggested. 

The  Express  is  a  weekly,  having  a  small  circulation,  and  is 
somewhat  radical.  A  prospectus  is  out  for  a  new  Catholic  jour- 
nal— daily  I  think.  I  have  not  yet  seen  the  paper  that  Wilkins 


A  THOUGHT    OF    WILKINS    MICAWBER.  383 


Micawber  so  ably  edited,  although  I  thought  I  recognized  the 
gentleman  a  few  days  since  going  out  of  town  on  a  stage  coach 
with  his  eye-glass  in  his  hand.  This  is  the  place  for  his  econom- 
ical maxim  of  living  within  your  means. 


OHAPTEE   VI. 

,  j 

MELBOURNE,  August  26,  1853. 

GENTLEMEN — The  Bavaria's  detention  gives  me  the  chance  of 
adding  a  postscript  to  what  I  have  already  said  by  this  mail. 
This  ship  would  have  got  away  some  days  since,  but  no  sailors 
were  to  be  had.  The  captain  pays  fifty  pounds  sterling  for  the 
run  to  New  York  1  The  excitement  occasioned  by  the  new  dig- 
gings at  Goulburn  and  the  approach  of  summer  has  made  Jack 
altogether  too  independent  of  the  trade. 

In  my  last  I  anticipated  trouble  among  the  miners,  and  sure 
enough  it  has  come  in  good  earnest.  The  impolite  reply  of  the 
lieutenant  governor  to  the  delegates  from  the  gold  fields  created 
a  strong  feeling  among  the  diggers,  who  for  a  long  time  have 
been  all  ready  for  anything.  Their  leaders  are  young  aspirants 
for  fame  ;  many  of  them  are  chartist  orators  who  are  blowing 
themselves  into  notice,  without  looking  at  the  consequences. 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Latrobe's  sentiments  were  made  known,  of 
abiding  by  4he  law  to  the  last  issue,  meetings  were  held  at  the 
several  mines,  and  measures  taken  to  resist  paying  the  license 
fee  ;  passing  resolutions  to  resort  to  arms  if  necessary,  and  quot- 
ing our  movements  in  Boston  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  as 
a  praiseworthy  example  of  tyrannical  governors. 

The  last  mail  brings  down  intelligence  that  a  party  number- 
ing some  thousands  waited  upon  the  commissioners  and  request- 
ed the  immediate  release  of  several  prisoners  who  had  been  ar- 


FEELING    AGAINST   THE    MINER'S     LICENSE-FEE.  385 


rested  for  the  non-payment  of  the  fee.  After  some  shuffling  on 
the  part  of  the  officials,  they  were  set  at  liberty,  thus  making 
a  virtue  of  necessity.  The  40th  regiment  and  the  mounted 
police  were  immediately  ordered  up,  and  the  barracks  and 
treasury  have  now  nothing  but  the  police  for  a  guard.  I  have 
not  yet  heard  of  the  proceedings.  The  mails  between  the  gold 
fields  and  this  place  are  as  irregular  and  as  long  in  coming  as 
they  formerly  were  by  the  old  stage  coach  system  between  New 
York  and  Boston. 

It  is  well  known  that  there  are  many  revolutionists  here  who, 
for  excitement's  sake  alone,  would  rush  into  a  civil  war  at  any 
moment ;  but  there  are  also  a  large  proportion  of  the  people 
who  will  take  the  side  of  order.  Should  the  authorties  fire  into 
the  crowd,  look  out  for  breakers  !  The  Americans  are  very 
quiet,  which  I  am  very  glad  to  learn  for  our  country's  sake  ; 
but  the  Germans  are  rather  loud  in  their  complaints  of  the 
shabby  manner  with  which  his  excellency  has  treated  them. 

Thirty  shillings  may  seem  a  large  sum  to  pay  per  month  ;  but 
when  we  remember  that  this  purchases  for  them  wood  and  water, 
improved  roads,  government  escorts  for  their  gold,  policemen  to 
protect  them  against  the  hundreds  of  Joachims  who  infest  the 
country,  (importations  from  V.  D.  L.)  as  well  as  a  place  to 
pitch  their  tent,  and  the  privilege  of  putting  their  spade  down 
for  their  share  of  the  "  nuggets,"  it  does  not  seem  so  far  out  of 
the  way.  Were  they  in  Melbourne  that  sum  would  be  required 
per  week  almost,  and  no  chance  of  a  fortune  at  the  point  of  the 
shovel.  Many  say  they  have  to  pay  the  fee  whether  successful 
or  not  in  finding  gold.  One  man  may  work  a  month  and  starve, 
while  the  next  finds  "  the  £134  nugget,"  and  yet  both  pay  the 
same.  I  see  no  way  to  remedy  the  evil.  If  they  paid  a  cer- 
tain per  centage  on  all  deposited  with  the  escort,  it  would  not 


386  THE   GOVERNOR    AXO    LEGISLATIVE    COUNCIL. 


work  well,  as  many  would  keep  their  earnings  to  themselves, 
and  thus  the  government  would  be  defrauded. 

Where  the  matter  will  end  no  one  can  tell.  The  diggers 
have  taken  a  position  ;  so  have  the  government ;  who  will  re- 
treat ? — that  is  the  question.  I  fancy  not  the  diggers.  They 
are  so  numerous,  at  a  given  signal,  if  properly  organized,  they 
could  oust  all  the  red  coats  and  Charleys  in  the  Colony! 

But  what  then  can  the  governor  do  ?  He  cannot  move  with- 
out the  legislative  council,  he  says — which  I  believe  is  the  case, 
but  that  council  is  a  mere  burlesque  on  free  representation.  Out 
of  54  members  who  represent  the  250,000  people  in  Yictoria, 
18  are  government  nominees  !  all  voting  at  the  wink  of  their 
prompter!  and  the  balance  of  the  members  cannot  be  called 
representatives,  as  many  were  elected  in  the  squatter  districts 
with  only  two  or  three  electors  at  the  polls !  In  two  instances 
there  was  but  one  voter  at  the  hustings  !  Or  perhaps  to  give 
a  better  idea  of  Victoria  ms-representation,  I  should  mention 
that  only  28,000  votes  were  cast  out  of  the  whole  population  of 
one  quarter  of  a  million  souls  ! 

The  consequence  is,  the  assembly  is  worse  than  nothing,  there 
being  few  talented  men  among  them.  Many  are  without  any 
legislative  experience,  and  as  they  intend  framing  a  new  consti- 
tution, all  hands  are  inquiring  for  Bancroft's  History  of  the 
United  States,  Massachusetts  state  papers,  Franklin's  works, 
the  constitution,  and  all  the  documents  that  were  printed  at 
the  dawn  of  liberty  in  la  belle  America.  I  had  two  copies  of 
the  constitution,  both  of  which  are  now  in  the  possession  of 
M.  I.  C.'a. 

I  say  the  governor  cannot  move  without  the  council,  and  the 
council  are  nearly  all  his  squatter  friends,  not  one  representative 
from  the  gold  fields  !  This  will  show  the  absurdity  of  the 


RIVAL    EDITORS.  38 1 


miners  getting  justice,  where  so  many  other  interests  are  at  work 
and  no  one  to  say  a  word  in  their  behalf. 

There  has  been  lately  quite  a  touch  of  intellectual  sparring 
between  the  Argus  and  the  Herald,  regarding  the  license  fee. 
It  has  been  a  notorious  fact  that  the  Argus  has  been  the  chief 
organ  of  the  diggers,  and  Wilson,  the  editor,  is  considered  a 
little  god  among  them  ;  but  now  the  Herald  says  after  he  has 
done  the  mischief  he  turns  round,  and  leaves  them  to  get  out  of 
the  scrape  as  they  can. 

Since  writing  the  foregoing  we  have  had  late  dates  inland. 
The  meeting  of  the  Ovens  was  stormy,  several  thousand  on  the 
spot,  speeches  decidedly  spicy,  some  of  them  didn't  care  whether 
scliool  kept  or  not,  just  as  willing  to  have  quarter  of  a  dollar 
as  ninepence,  ready  to  pitch  the  government  overboard  at  a 
moment's  notice,  said  they  must  be  represented,  that  they  would 
not  pay  the  fee,  etc.  etc.  Some  of  the  banners  were  very  neat, 
one  of  them  in  large  letters  had  these  memorable  words,  so 
familiar  to  our  forefathers — "  Taxation  without  representation  is 
robbery" 

Mr.  Latrobe's  written  answer  to  the  delegation  may  allay  in 
part  the  excitement.  'Tis  a  pity  that  he  attempted  to  answer 
them  verbally.  The  document  is  said  to  be  written  by  the 
attorney  general,  being  too  able  a  paper  for  the  weak-minded 
governor. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

MELBOURNE,  Sept  27,  1853. 

GENTLEMEN. — The  life  and  fortunes  of  John  Mitchel  during 
his  exile  in  Yan  Diemeu's  laud  are  somewhat  excentric.  I 
kuow  how  deep  an  interest  some  of  my  countrymen  take  in 
the  fate  of  the  Irish  state  prisoners.  Meagher  is  already  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  ere  long  we  shall  expect  to 
see  him  in  the  congressional  arena.  His  eloquence  has  thrilled 
through  our  land,  and  his  patriotism  is  the  subject  of  remark. 
Now  we  are  to  have  another  of  the  exiled  band  in  eloquence 
the  greatest  of  them  all.  Mitchel  will  be  with  you  when  this 
comes  to  hand,  and  his  burning  eloquence  will  have  stirred  the 
nation's  heart.  Meagher  writes  and  then  delivers,  a  little  ner- 
vous in  his  eloquence,  but  Mitchel  is  extemporaneous  and  full 
of  fire,  so  much  so  I  fear  that  he  will  make  more  mistakes  than 
Kossuth.  Both  are  orators,  but  Mitchel  I  fancy  the  superior. 
He  is  a  fine  looking  man,  and  I  know  you  will  be  interested  in 
knowing  something  more  of  the  circumstances  of  his  escape 
than  the  papers  have  told  you  of. 

It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  meet  at  the  social  board  one 
whose  deep  interest  in  the  fate  of  these  unfortunate  Irishmen 
has  been  to  a  certain  degree  the  means  of  two  of  them  escaping. 
Meagher  and  Mitchel  are  away,  Smith  O'Brien,  Doherty  and 
Martin  remain  ;  the  former  attempted  to  escape  some  time 
since,  but  was  detected.  Doherty  is  practicing  medicine  in  the 
Hobart  Town  hospital,  and  Martin  is  occupying  the  house  that 


MITCHEL   ATTEMPTS    ESCAPE.  389 


Mitchel  resided  in  at  Botbwell.  All  of  them  have  strong  and 
influential  friends  who  are  on  the  alert.  Some  day,  not  far  dis- 
tant, I  predict  the  authorities  will  find  the  cage  empty — that 
the  birds  have  flown.  It  is  said  that  Doherty  prefers  remain- 
ing, as  he  has  a  fine  opportunity  to  study  his  profession.  This, 
I  have  no  doubt,  is  a  mark  to  hood-wink  the  government.  From 
what  I  learn  none  of  these  men  compare  in  talent  with  the  pio- 
neer patriot,  the  brave  soldier,  the  eloquent  orator,  the  champion 
of  liberty,  John  Mitchel.  He  was  the  first  to  fall,  and  he  went 
down  with  the  laurel  on  his  brow. 

Several  attempts  had  been  made  to  take  him  off,  all  without 
success.  Vessel  after  vessel  was  despatched  on  coasting  expe- 
ditions, but  failed  to  accomplish  their  object.  Smyth  was  sent 
out  with  plenty  of  cash  from  the  Irish  Confederacy  of  New 
York,  and  with  my  dinner  table  acquaintance  has  been  pulling 
his  wires  to  liberate  Mitchel.  At  one  time  the  "  Water  Lily  " 
was  at  Spring  Bay,  all  manned  and  fitted  for  a  secret  voyage  ; 
signals  were  passed  from  the  shore  ;  but  the  "  coo-eg-ing ''  was 
heard  and  Smyth  was  arrested.  Then  came  an  inland  march, 
plenty  of  romance  about  it,  innocent  people  arrested,  Smyth  set 
at  liberty,  his  assistant  and  friend  pursued,  etc.  etc.  '  Another 
time  the  "Don  Juan"  was  cruising  off  Hobart  Town  on  a  pota- 
to and  wheat  voyage, (?)  and  all  arrangements  were  complete  ; 
but  here  again  the  stupidity  of  Mitchel's  servant  or  the  man 
that  was  to  accompany  him  made  a  botch  of  it.  He  was  so 
elated  at  the  prospect  of  escaping  he  could  not  contain  himself. 
Of  course  he  must  get  drunk  ;  but  that  was  not  all ; — he  had 
to  sit  down  and  write  his  workshop  friend  a  letter  something 
like  this  : — 

"  Teddy,  my  boy,  God  bless  ye  !  How  is  the  family  entire, 
and  Biddy,  and  the  baby?  Good  bye  to  ye.  I  am  full  of  es- 


390  THROWS   UP   HIS   PAROLE. 


capiug  with  Mitchel — mysilf  and  the  whole  of  us — all  after 
being  off  immediately.  Hurrah  !  boys.  God  bless  ye  again. 
Good  bye.  Ye  will  hear  from  me  all  safe  in  Ameriky.  Don't 
ye  wish  ye  was  after  for  coming  ?" 

Now  this  would  have  been  all  very  well  if  Teddy  had  known 
how  to  read.  But  it  was  all  Greek  to  him  ;  so  he  took  it  for 
translation  to  his  employer,  who  being  unfortunately  a  govern- 
ment officer,  jumped  upon  his  horse  and  rode  post  haste  to  Ho- 
bart  Town,  and  Mitchel's  escape  looked  more  dubious  than 
ever.  He  had  not  thrown  up  his  parole  of  honor,  and  nothing 
could  be  proved  against  him  ;  and  after  putting  a  closer  watch 
upon  his  movements,  which  was  soon  removed  at  his  own  sug- 
gestion, the  excitement  died  away  and  the  letter  was  supposed 
to  be  a  hoax.  Thus  twice  were  the  efforts  of  his  friends  frustrat- 
ed, fate  seemed  against  him,  when  lo  and  behold,  he  one  day 
very  cooly  walked  into  the  police  office  with  an  open  letter  ad- 
dressed to  Sir  Wm.  Dennisou,  the  governor,  throwing  up  his 
parole,  and  requested  the  dismayed  official  to  read  it  !  The 
boldness  of  the  movement  and  the  perfect  coolness  of  Mitchel 
so  astonished  the  magistrate  that  before  he  could  stammer  out 
an  order  to  the  constable  for  his  arrest,  Mitchel  had  walked 
out  of  the  door,  mounted  a  horse,  (the  very  one  bought  of  the 
magistrate  a  few  days  before  for  £80)  and  galloped  off  up  the 
road  to  the  utter  amazement  of  those  present.  Smyth  accom- 
panied him  a  short  distance  and  then  Mitchel  plunged  into  the 
bush. 

A  close  search  was  made  but  .to  no  avail,  all  thought  he  had 
left  the  country  in  some  coaster  and  the  chase  was  given  up. 
All  this  while  Mitchel  was  buried  in  the  bush,  living  on  God 
knows  what.  His  sufferings  here  were  terrible.  No  one  but 
himself  can  tell  of  the  hardships  he  went  through  ;  for  over  a 


MITCHEL    IN    DISGUISE.  391 


mouth  he  was  wandering  about  in  disguise,  seeking  some  oppor- 
tunity to  get  away.  He  traveled  from  Launcestou  to  Hobart 
Town  dressed  as  a  clergyman,  and  embarked  with  fourteen 
other  passengers  iu  broad  daylight  iu  the  "  Emma"  for  Sidney, 
under  the  name  of  Warreu.  His  disguise  was  complete,  none 
recognized  hi  the  dignified  minister  the  jolly  Irishman  Mitchel. 
He  carried  his  incognito  all  the  way,  and  joined  oftentimes  in 
an  argument  for  or  against  himself,  with  his  fellow  passengers. 
Some  believed  he  ought  to  be  set  at  liberty,  while  Mitchel  alias 
Warren,  advanced  the  argument  that  the  government  served 
him  right,  you  may  rest  assured  he  was  a  happy  man  tQ  find 
sitting  with  him  at  the  same  table  his  wife  and  family.  What 
a  strange  picture.  The  exile  and  the  partner  of  his  bosom 
both  fleeing  from  the  prison  land.  Of  course  he  was  introduced 
to  Mrs  Mitchel  as  Mr  Warren,  and  he  was  observed  to  be  very 
attentive  to  the  lady  !  But  I  must  be  brief,  the  mail  is  closing 
and  my  story  is  getting  prosy. 

Mitchel  arrived  safely  in  Sydney,  spent  a  few  days,  still  in 

disguise — with  Mr. ,  a  hospitable  friend — and  left  in  the 

"  Orkney  Lass"  for  San  Francisco  about  six  weeks  since.  His 
family,  as  a  matter  of  precaution,  took  passage  in  the  "  Julia 
Ann  "  for  the  same  destination,  from  Sydney,  about  a  week  after. 
By  this  time  you  may  have  seen  him,  and  I  know  you  will  ex- 
tend to  him  the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  His  career  I  know 
will  be  a  brilliant  one.  He  is  a  gentleman  and  a  soldier,  com- 
bining all  the  elements  of  a  patriot.  As  a  lover  of  liberty  and 
true  merit  I  take  a  lively  interest  in  these  warm  hearted  meu 
who  were  banished  from  all  the  sweet  allurements  of  home, 
simply  because  they  dared  to  hope  that  their  poor  priest-ridden 
country  might  be  free  from  the  wretchedness  that  England's  pol- 


392  IRELAND. 

icy  had  plunged  her  in.  Poor  Ireland  !  what  has  she  done  to 
deserve  such  a  fate  ?  Why  are  her  sons  cast  off  like  so  many 
murderers  and  burglars  for  nothing  but  their  love  of  their  own 
native  land  ?  Had  I  the  time  and  space  I  would  tell  you  more 
of  Mitchel's  colonial  life.  There  is  romance  enough  in  it  for 
fifty  works  of  fiction. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

MELBOURNE,  Sept  1853. 

IT  is  past,  the  great  event  is  over,  the  imposing  ceremony  has 
taken  place,  the  deed  is  done,  and  nothing  remains  for  your  cor- 
respondent to  do  but  to  faithfully  chronicle  his  impressions  of 
the  gorgeous  spectacle  of  opening  the  legislative  council  of  th« 
colony  of  Victoria  1  ! 

After  writing  you  per  Bavaria  regarding  Melbourne  legisla- 
tion, curiosity  prompted  me  to  witness  the  ceremony  of  the 
"  opening  of  the  council,"  as  one  of  the  members  informed  me 
that  it  was  something  worth  seeing,  so  having  been  furnished 
with  a  permit  a  la  parliamentary  style,  through  the  politeness  of 
Mr.  Winter,  one  of  the  newly  elected  representatives,  I  started 
off  up  Bourke  street  for  the  council  chamber,  and  arrived  just 
in  time  to  see  the  procession.  What  a  magnificent  display  ! 
The  opening  of  parliament,  the  meeting  of  congress,  the  conven- 
ing of  state  legislatures.  Pshaw  !  what  are  they  all  in  com- 
parison ?  Words  fail  to  describe  the  picture.  Look  at  that 
dense  mass  of  upturned  faces  that  line  the  street  on  every  side 
for  nearly  two  rods — full  one  hundred  and  fifty  people — men, 
women  and  children — all  gathered  together,  regardless  of  wind 
and  weather,  to  see  the  brilliant  pageant  !  How  anxiously  all 
wait  the  approach  of  the  head  column.  Even  the  fourteen  mem- 
bers of  the  40th  (the  receiving  corps)  are  getting  impatient. 
Here  they  come,  surrounded  by  the  mounted  police.  Carriage 
behind  carriage,  three  in  all !  The  one  drawn  by  that  proud 


394  POOR   ACCOMMODATIONS. 


pair  of  city  hacks  has  the  distinguished  honor  of  carrying  the 
chief  magistrate  of  the  colony  and  his  aid,  the  next  carriage 
holds  the  foreign  consuls,  and  the  next  the  other  dignitaries  of 
the  land.  How  I  wish  you  could  stand  with  me  on  the  steps  of 
the  council  chamber  to  see  this  commencement  of  an  Australian 
parliament  ;  but  as  you  are  not,  I  can  only  tell  you  that  the 
escort,  the  military  band,  the  immense  length  of  the  procession, 
in  short  the  tout  ensemble  was  a  picture  for  an  artist.  Never  in 
my  life  have  I  seen  so  little  enthusiasm  on  such  an  occasion — 

Not  a  cheer  was  raised,  not  a  welcoming  note, 
As  his  grace  to  the  council  they  hurried ; 
Not  a  soldier  displayed  his  loyal  shout, 

O'er  the  place  where  the  hero  was  carried ! 

».' . 

There  was  no  touching  of  the  castor,  no  shaking  of  handker- 
chiefs, no  loud  hurrahs,  no  anything  to  show  the  popularity  of 
the  governor.  Surely  this  is  not  an  enthusiastic  people,  or  his 
excellency  is  not  the  most  beloved  of  men. 

It  was  most  amusing  to  watch  the  proceedings  within  the 
chamber  from  the  little  henroost  of  a  gallery  in  St.  Patrick's 
Hall.  (Why  is  it  that  legislative  halls  are  always  provided  with 
such  niggardly  accommodations  for  spectators?)  This  place  was 
owned  by  the  St.  Patrick  Society,  and  I  am  informed  that  the 
government  rent  it  at  £500  a  year  for  the  assembly.  It  is 
hardly  suitable  for  its  object,  being  altogether  too  small  It 
does  not  seem  much  larger  than  our  committee  rooms  at  the 
capitol.  The  platform  owns  one  solitary  chair  for  the  speaker, 
and  on  this  important  occasion  was  occupied  by  Gov.  Latrobe. 
In  front  was  a  table  for  the  clerk,  whose  powdered  wig  was  only 
eclipsed  by  that  worn  by  the  attorney  general.  (How  nonsen- 
sical these  hollow  forms.  How  absurd  to  see  a  man  with  really 
good  sense,  wearing  a  cat  skin  curled  to  order  in  an  august 


THE   GOVERNOR.  395 


body  in  this  enlightened  age  1)  A  long  table  with  the  colonial 
and  home  law  books,  stands  iu  the  centre  of  the  hall,  and  two 
rows  of  hair  seated  benches  encircle  the  chamber  for  the  mem- 
bers ;  but  they  have  nothing  more — no  desk  for  writing,  nor 
any  place  to  put  their  papers  and  their  books.  Perhaps  they 
don't  have  any.  The  governor  was  dressed  in  his  robes  of 
office,  and  read  his  speech  from  a  printed  document,  copies  of 
which  had  been  circulated  previously  among  the  members,  while 
sitting  in  the  chair.  I  wonder  if  colonial  governors  always  sit 
on  such  occasions ! 

There  was  no  feeling  expressed  by  the  audience  during  the 
recital,  neither  for  or  against,  notwithstanding  he  proposed 
some  important  changes,  among  which  was  the  total  abolition 
of  the  license  fee  ?  and  a  revision  of  the  tariff — assessing  a  duty 
on  sugar  and  an  export  duty  on  gold.  These  were  the  chief 
points.  He  promised  everything.  We  shall  see  how  he  will 
carry  out  his  plans.  After  finishing  his  oration  he  left  the  hall 
without  the  least  show  of  approbation  or  regard.  Some  of  the 
new  members  were  then  promenaded  across  the  gaudy  looking 
tapestry  carpet  and  sworn  in  in  the  usual  way — Testament  in 
hand,  producing  qualifications,  promising  to  notify  her  most 
gracious  majesty  in  case  of  treason,  etc.,  etc.  How  bashful  they 
appear  ;  how  diffident ;  white  kids  and  white  vest,  and  pants 
strapped  within  an  inch  of  their  life  over  high  heeled-boots,  Oh 
Cobden,  oh  Brougham,  blush  for  your  newly  elected  Victorian 
brethern  ! 

The  ministerial  benches  were  filled  by  the  nominees — official 
and  as  many  not  in  office.  The  premier,  Mr.  Foster,  heads  the 
former,  backed  by  the  attorney  general,  Mr.  A.  Becket,  &c. 

Melbourne  is  full  of  churches  of  every  denomination — Epis- 
copal, Catholic,  Baptist,  Unitarian,  Scotch,  and  all  the  branches. 


396  CHURCH   OF   ENGLAND. 


The  trim  chapel  of  the  Trinity  worshippers,  the  ponderous  cath- 
edral of  the  holy  see,  the  ornamental  architecture  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  the  peculiar  design  of  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim, 
are  all  within  a  stone's  throw  of  Collins  street.  The  denizens 
of  Melbourne  are  a  church-going  people.  Sunday  is  as  quiet  as 
in  a  country  town  at  home,  and  the  order  observed  on  every 
hand  shows  most  forcibly  the  absurdity  of  our  bringing  out  so 
many  revolvers. 

Last  Sabbath  I  attended  the  Church  of  England,  and  never 
in  my  life  was  I  so  wearied  with  a  morning  service.  And  you 
will  not  be  surprised  when  I  tell  you  that  it  was  over  two  hours 
in  length.  I  could  but  think  how  widely  different  are  the  pro- 
ceedings of  a  Sunday  morning  in  a  quiet  New  England  village, 
where  one  good  man,  for  $300  per  annum,  officiates  as  clerk, 
rector,  curate,  preacher,  everything,  and  who,  in  his  unassuming 
prayer  instead  of  selecting  the  chief  dignitaries  of  his  own  land, 
remembers  the  whole  world,  "  from  the  north  to  the  south," 
"  from  the  highest  character  in  office  to  the  lowest  subject."  I 
never  left  such  a  meeting  without  a  holier  and  purer  feeling. 
Everything  so  simple  and  all  so  true — "  whose  religion  is  the  right 
— whose  only  creed  is  love."  The  church  is  built  of  stone,  and 
was  about  two  thirds  completed  when  the  discovery  of  the  mines 
scattered  the  workmen,  and  the  high  price  of  labor  and  build- 
ing material  since,  I  am  told,  has  prevented  its  being  finished. 
It  seems  very  strange  to  me  to  find  hi  an  old  decayed  tree  adjoin- 
ing the  church  here,  the  only  belfry  which  Melbourne  can  fur- 
nish for  their  small  fire-engine  bell ! 

There  was  one  thing  that  I  was  pleased  to  observe,  and  that 
was  the  orderly  and  quiet  manner  with  which  all  left  the  church 
— none  covering  their  heads  till  fairly  across  the  threshold,  and 
I  could'but  strike  the  balance  decidedly  in  their  favor  when  I 


LACK   OF   SCHOOL  HOUSES.  397 


remembered  that  long  before  grace  is  said  we  usually  have  our 
gloves  on,  our  coat  buttoned,  our  pew  door  opened,  and  our 
cane  and  hat  in  hand,  all  ready  for  a  grand  rush  to  see  who 
should  be  the  first  out. 

I  am  sorry  not  to  see  more  "  shooting  galleries"  here,  as  they 
term  school  houses  in  the  west.  Education  is  sadly  neglected. 
I  believe  there  are  no  public  institutions  for  children  in  the 
place,  and  only  a  few  private  ones.  Many  are  obliged  to  take 
their  children  to  England,  or  employ  a  governess.  I  sincerely 
hope  that  the  first  move  the  new  governor  and  council  make 
will  be  to  carry  out  some  practical  plan  for  national  education. 

There  are  very  few  societies  in  the  place.  The  "Mechanics' 
Institution "  is  the  best,  having  a  well  assorted  library  and  good 
collection  of  periodicals.  Among  the  paper  files  I  saw  none 
from  that  uncivilized  nation,  the  United  States,  although  the 
librarian  informed  me  that  two  or  three  journals  from  New 
York  were  ordered  last  January,  but  they  have  never  received 
any  of  them.  Lectures  are  occasionally  given  in  this  building 
on  scientific  and  local  subjects,  some  of  them  worthy  of  note. 

Theatricals  are  minus.  Second-rate  entertainments  are  all 
we  have  ;  cheap  concerts,  tipped  off  with  a  promiscuous  ball, 
and  an  American  circus  is  the  sum  total,  unless  I  except  an 
occasional  treat  at  the  Institute  above  mentioned,  where  the 
ladies  wear  bonnets,  and  the  gentlemen  top  boots  and  great 
coats  1 

I  was  much  pleased  with  Geelong.  The  scenery  for  miles 
about  it  is  most  beautiful.  Its  proximity  to  the  new  diggings 
at  Balaarat  has  lately  given  the  place  a  most  business  like  ap- 
pearance. The  population  is  rapidly  increasing,  at  present  esti- 
mated at  about  30,000. 

The  new  temporary  license  fee  thus  far  works  well.     The  dig- 


398  LICENSE    FORMS. 


gers,  one  and  all,  pay  the  £%  for  three  months  without  a  mur- 
mur. All  they  want  now  is  to  have  the  land  "  unlocked  "  about 
the  "  diggins  "  and  representation  ia  council. 

You  may  not  have  seen  a  copy  of  the  license.  I  obtained 
one  a  few  days  since  from  a  digger,  and  the  following  is  the  way 
it  reads  under  the  old  regime : — 

Victoria . 

Gold License. 

No.  95.  1853. 

The  bearer,  John  Smith,  having  paid  the  sum  of  one  pound 
ten  shillings,  on  account  of  the  general  revenue  of  the  colony, 
I  hereby  license  him  to  mine  or  dig  for  gold,  or  exercise  or  car- 
ry on  any  other  trade  or  calling  on  such  crown  lands  within  the 
Colony  of  Victoria,  as  shall  be  assigned  to  him  for  these  pur- 
poses by  any  one  duly  authorized  in  that  behalf. 

This  license  to  be  in  force  until  and  during  the  month  of , 

and  no  longer. 

Signed,  JOHN  JONES. 

Commissioner. 

Regulations  to  be  observed  by  the  persons  digging  for  gold 
or  otherwise  employed  at  the  gold  fields  : — 

1.  This  license  is  to  be  carried  on  the  person,  to  be  produced 
wheaever  demanded  by  any  commissioner,  peace  officer,  or  other 
dub  authorized  person,  and  is  not  transferable. 

2.  No  mining  will  be  permitted  where  it  would  be  destruct- 
ive of  any  line  of  road  which  it  is  necessary  to  maintain,  and 
which  shall  be  determined  by  any  commissioner,  nor  within  such 
iistance  around  any  store  as  it  may  be  necessary  to  reserve  for 
iceess  to  it. 

3.  It  is  enjoined  that  all  persons  on  the  gold  fields  maintain  a 
lue  and  proper  observance  of  Sundays. 


DIGGER'S  HARDSHIPS.  399 


4.  The   extent  of  claim  allowed  to  each  licensed   miner  is 
twelve  feet  square,  or  144  square  feet. 

5.  To  a  party  consisting  of  two  miners,  twelve  feet  by  twenty- 
four,  or  288  square  feet. 

6.  To  a  party  consisting  of  three  miners,  eighteeen  feet  by 
twenty-four,  or  432  square  feet. 

7'.  To  a  party  consisting  of  four  miners,  twenty-four  feet  by 
twenty  four,  or  5T6  square  feet ;  beyond  which  no  greater  area 
will  be  allowed  in  one  claim. 

The  digger's  life  is  a  most  laborious  one.  No  one  can  tell  of 
their  many  hardships.  You  must  go  to  Balaarat  or  Bendigo 
to  paint  the  scene.  At  the  latter  place  there  are  several  hun- 
dred stores,  tents,  &c.,  all  laid  out  in  regular  streets — of  course 
nothing  over  one  story.  There  are  two  canvas  meeting  houses, 
and  a  hospital  and  several  hotels — all  on  the  ground  floor.  In 
Melbourne  they  have  only  three  feet  to  a  yard,  in  Bendigo  the 
whole  country  is  fenced  in  !  The  storekeepers  have  to  pay  a 
license  as  well  as  the  diggers,  but  no  one  can  sell  liquor  ;  yet 
everybody  sells  it  sub  rosa.  'Tis  not  an  unusual  thing  to  find  a 
dead  body  in  some  neglected  hole.  I  have  no  doubt  but  many 
poor  creatures  meet  with  an  early  death  by  the  "  hand  of  vio- 
lence." They  go  to  the  diggings  friendless  and  alone.  If  mur- 
dered, who  is  there  to  tell  the  story  ?  No  anxious  wife,  no  dear 
sister,  no  any  one,  to  make  the  inquiry.  They  came  friendless 
into  the  country,  they  leave  it  as  they  came.  The  moment  the 
sun  goes  down  you  have  a  perfect  bedlam  in  the  camp — screech- 
ing, swearing,  and  singing,  pistol  shots  and  barking  dogs,-  all 
mixed  Up  together.  My  informant  tells  me  the  night  before  he 
came  down,  two  pistol  balls  went  through  his  tent !  If  prudent, 
a  man  is  sure  to  have  good  health  in  the  Bush.  The  rugged 
life  he  leads  will  make  him  strong  and  active.  Candles  are  used 


400  STRANGE    DIALECT. 


under  ground.  After  sinking  to  a  great  depth,  they  undermine, 
laying  on  the  belly,  and  pulling  the  washing  stuff  out  under 
them.  Sometimes  their  next  door  neighbor  breaks  through  his 
claim  on  to  them,  in  which  case  there  is  a  compromise.  During 
the  day  they  have  three  meals  at  the  diggings,  the  same  as  at 
home.  The  provisions  are  generally  poor,  but  very  expensive. 

There  are  any  quantities  of  parrots,  possums  and  "native 
dogs"  in  the  vicinity  of  the  mines,  the  former  making  the  forest 
ring  with  their  uncouth  music.  They  have  a  a  slang  language 
at  the  gold  fields  peculiar  to  that  district.  Tea  and  coffee  are 
"  slingiugs,"  "  swags"  is  the  term  for  luggage  and,  "  shiser"  for 
an  unprofitable  hole.  I  believe  "  nuggett"  is  peculiarly  Austra- 
lian— " ky ottering"  is  undermining,  and  "fossicking"  is  where 
they  use  a  knife  on  the  surface.  "  Bloody"  is  a  term  they 
apply  to  almost  everything,  such  as  a  "  bloody  good  hole,"  or  a 
"  bloody  nice  woman,"  a  "  bloody  fine  tent,"  or  a  "  bloody  good 
sermon  !"  "  Lags  "  is  the  term  for  convicts,  "  billy  "  for  tea- 
kettle. Bread  is  called  "  damper,"  and  so  on  throughout  all 
their  mysterious  language.  The  roads  to  the  mines  are  strewn 
with  broken  carts,  old  drays,  dead  bullocks  and  horses  in  all 
stages  of  decay,  and  everything  that  is  sickening  to  the  sight. 
The  "  black  forest"  is  twelve  miles  long,  and  full  of  bandits. 
Tis  a  dismal  place  to  go  through.  The  escorts  always  have  in 
passing  it  an  additional  troop  of  soldiers. 

I  suppose  there  is  no  place  in  the  world  where  there  is  so 
much  cruelty  to  animals  as  here,  the  poor  bullocks  in  their 
iron  bowed  yokes  being  the  great  sufferers.  The  driver's  whip 
is  as  long  as  a  fishing  pole,  and  the  crack  of  it  is  as  loud  as  a 
pistol. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

EASTERN  HILL,  MELBOURNE,  ) 
October  8,  1853.  } 

NEVER  till  within  the  past  few  weeks  have  I  actually  realized 
that  I  am  living  in  Britain's  monster  Newgate,  that  I  am  a  resi- 
dent in  England's  largest  prison  house  !  Before  leaving  home 
I  often  thought  that  I  was  migrating  to  a  convict  land,  but 
never  until  now  have  I  felt  the  racking  honors  of  a  penal  colony. 
It  is  all  very  beautiful  for  Mr  Tupper  to  write  spirited  ballad's 
about  Australia's  emancipation,  and  for  the  journalists  of  the 
country  to  echo  back  the  rejoicing  song,  but  like  the  blood  of 
the  murdered  Rizzio  in  Holyrood  Palace,  the  stain  of  crime  re- 
mains deep  rooted  in  the  soil. 

A  short  time  since  the  august  legislature  of  New  South 
Wales,  led  off  by  Mr.  Wentworth,  the  Brougham  of  the  coun- 
cil, were  preparing  their  capacious  minds  to  pass  an  act  for  the 
establishment  of  a  "  colonial  peerage  !"  What  a  "  sfoopendous 
idea  I"  What  a  startling  project  !  Just  for  a  moment  run 
your  eye  along  the  brilliant  list  of  peers  that  I  can  imagine 
Punch  has  already  peopled  the  place  with,  (for  Punch  does  not 
spare  the  colonists)  and  anticipate  the  emblematic  designs  of 
Doyle  or  Cruikshank,  or  Thackeray,  when  classifying  their  res- 
pective ranks.  One  heralded  with  a  huge  pile  of  forged  notes 
on  the  Union  Bank,  another  introducing  a  slow  match  into  the 
safe  of  some  provincial  bank  ;  a  third  with  a  large  butcher's 
knife  reeking  with  the  blood  of  some  new  slain  victim  of  passion 


402  .       REFUSE  OE  ENGLAND'S  JAILS. 


or  revenge  !  all  of  them  to  be  pictured  by  the  great  London 
satirist,  with  hand-cuffs  and  policemen  with  loaded  carbines  in 
the  back  ground. 

Thank  God!  the  public  most  respectfully  declined  swallowing 
the  gilt  edged  pill  that  the  aspirants  for  nobility  of  our  sister 
colony  had  so  ingeniously  prepared,  and  consequently  the  only 
titles  the  civilian  is  pez'mitted  to  wear  in  Australia  are,  his  ex- 
cellency, his  worship,  the  honorable  and  the  esquire. 

I  say  I  have  never  before  realized  the  startling  truth  that  I 
am  living  in  a  country  filled  with  the  scum  of  all  the  jails  in 
England,  meeting  no  doubt  in  my  daily  walks  to  the  counting- 
house  with  some  of  the  pardoned  repentant  friends  of  Sir  Wil- 
liam Dennison  I  The  homicide,  the  burglar,  the  forger,  and 
the  blackest  villains  that  the  world  can  produce  ;  men  so  har- 
dened in  their  damnable  crimes  that  it  were  folly  to  believe  for 
a  moment  that  they  were  ever  touched  with  the  celestial  want 
of  repentance. 

I  have  not  thought  it  worth  my  while  when  writing  you  to 
notice  the  occasional  "  sticking  up"  of  some  unfortunate  traveler, 
or  the  brutal  murder  of  a  poor  digger,  so  many  instances  of 
which  occur,  but  never  come  to  light,  and  even  passed  by  with- 
out remark  ;  the  bloody  attack  upon  the  escort,  where  with 
more  than  Indian  treachery  a  volley  was  fired  from  an  ambush 
into  the  troop,  cutting  down  men  and  horses  like  so  many  forest 
trees.  But  when  the  events  of  the  last  fortnight  come  up  be- 
fore me  I  am  forced  to  tell  you  of  "  tales  that  send  a  thrill  of 
terror  through  the  blood." 

Let  me  sum  up  in  as  few  words  as  possible  one  week's  history 
of  the  most  depraved  scamps  that  ever  left  the  demon-land. 
The  events  that  have  come  piecemeal  to  the  public  I  will  try 
and  give  you  in  regular  order. 

*?**-> 


LAWLESS    VENGEANCE.  403 


While  the  schooner  "Sophia"  was  anchored  in  the  river  at 
Circular  Head,  a  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Wigmore  requested 
the  schooner's  boat  to  ferry  him  across,  which  the  captain  cheer- 
fully complied  with,  but  while  doing  this  neighborly  act  two 
prisoners  of  the  crown  jumped  into  the  boat,  armed  to  the 
teeth,  and  bound  hand  and  foot  the  five  persons  therein,  includ- 
ing Wigmore  and  the  captain.  After  they  boarded  the  schooner 
they  destroyed  the  arms  in  the  cabin,  frightened  the  crew  into 
obeying  their  slightest  wish  at  the  point  of  the  carbine,  made 
Wigmore  write  ashore  stating  verbatim  what  had  happened — 
threatening  instant  death  to  those  on  board  should  an  attempt 
from  the  shore  be  made  to  take  them,  ordered  the  captain  to  get 
underway  for  Port  Philip,  impressed  three  men  who  happened 
to  pass  alongside  in  a  small  boat,  making  about  fifteen  in  all, 
whom  they  kept  in  constant  fear  by  continually  cocking  their 
pistols  before  their  eyes,  and  kept  watch  and  watch  all  the  way 
until  they  got  inside  the  Heads,  when  they  were  landed  by  the 
schooner's  boat ;  but  the  poor  sailors  who  rowed  them  ashore 
have  never  been  heard  from.  The  next  we  hear  of  these  des- 
perate men  is  at  Brighton,  where  they  asked  a  man  ploughing 
for  his  horses  ;  but  as  he  was  rather  dilatory  in  complying  with 
their  demands,  one  of  them  deliberately  aimed  his  rifle  at  his 
breast  and  fired,  the  poor  man  dropping  down,  faintly  articu- 
lating in  his  dying  groans — 

"  My  God — what  have  you  shot  me  for  ?" 

They  then  mounted  the  horses  and  started  for  the  Bush,  slay- 
ing and  killing  everything  that  opposed  them.  They  waylaid  a 
Mr.  Clark  on  his  station  and  shot  down  his  gardener  who  came 
to  his  rescue,  adding  one  more  corpse  to  their  list  of  victims. 
The  mounted  police  took  the  scent  at  Brighton,  and  scoured  the 
country,  tracking  the  murderers  by  a  bloody  trail.  In  the  hoi- 


404  WHOLESALE    ASSASSINS. 


low  of  an  old  tree,  just  off  the  road,  they  found  the  body  of  a 
man  just  killed,  his  hands  tied,  his  ears  cut  off,  and  his  face  hor- 
ribly mutilated.  A  little  further  on  a  hut  had  been  robbed  of  pro- 
visions, and  the  inmates  were  too  terrified  to  tell  of  the  dread- 
ful vision  of  the  previous  night.  Onward  pushed  the  troopers, 
the  villains  changing  horses  whenever  they  met  with  better 
steeds,  still  keeping  ahead,  and  for  a  time  they  lost  the  trail,  till 
coming  up  with  an  old  house  apparently  deserted,  you  may  im- 
agine their  surprise  at  finding  therein  fourteen  able  bodied  men 
bound  hand  and  foot !  While  releasing  them  and  listening  to 
the  story  of  bloody  threats  thrown  out  by  the  convicts,  a  shot 
was  heard  out  side,  accompanied  with  a  shrill  cry,  "  the  robbers 
are  coming."  Out  rushed  the  police  just  in  time  to  see  Cadet 
Thompson  shot  through  the  lungs  by  a  rifle  ball.  Not  at  all 
intimidated  by  the  numbers  of  the  police,  these  reckless  bandits 
sprung  boldly  among  them,  striking  and  shooting  right  and  left, 
and  not  until  their  ammunition  failed  them,  after  a  most  bloody 
encounter  were  they  taken.  One  of  them  had  four  discharged 
revolvers  on  his  person,  besides  his  rifle  ! 

After  the  capture,  and  while  they  were  being  brought  down 
to  Melbourne,  they  boasted  of  their  past  crimes.  The  catalogue 
is  too  frightful  for  belief.  They  stated  that  they  had  killed  five 
men  before  leaving  Van  Diemen's  Land,  and,  since  that  time, 
of  murdering  some  ten  or  fifteen  more  I  Their  sole,  object  seems 
to  have  been  murder — or,  in  their  own  words,  to  make  a  "clean 
path."  The  least  opposition  to  their  demands  resulted  in  the 
death  of  a  human  being. 

The  foregoing  account  of  these  desperate  cut  throats  you  will 
hardly  credit,  and  I  must  say  that  had  I  not  had  a  sight  of 
them  as  they  were  taken  to  jail,  and  perused  the  records  of  the 
police  court,  I  myself  could  hardly  have  credited  the  newspa- 


'<**.»      f  ...» 

- 

HUMOROUS    EXECUTIONS.  405 


per  accounts.  Their  exploits  go  ahead  of  Dick  Turpin  in  his 
palmiest  days,  and  the  romantic  career  of  German  and  Italian 
bandits  seems  comparatively  tame  in  connection  with  them. 
This  subject  has  been  and  is  now  the  principal  topic  of  conver- 
sation. Many  think  the  captain  of  the  schooner  was  in  the  plot 
to  get  them  off,  that  it  were  impossible  for  two  men  to  take  a 
vessel  with  a  crew  of  nine  sailors  and  five  passengers,  and  keep 
so  many  people  on  the  shore  at  bay.  Many  wish  them  to  hang 
in  chains,  and  others  would  torture  them,  in  their  indignation. 
Joachim  in  all  his  glory  cannot  equal  the  foolhardiness  of  such 
men,  and  fiction  is  exhausted  by  this  tragedy  of  real  life  ! 

On  Monday  morning  last  three  of  the  "  lags"  who  shot  into 
the  escort  were  hung  at  the  Melbourne  jail,  in  the  presence  of 
thousands  of  the  lower  classes,  making  some  eight  or  nine  indi- 
viduals that  have  been  strung  up  since  I  have  been  in  the  col- 
ony, less  than  five  months  I 

A  short  time  after  the  execution  on  Monday,  while  passing 
down  Great  Bank  street,  what  should  I  see  but  one  of  the  dead 
bodies  in  the  show  window  of  a  drinking  saloon,  decorated  with 
flowers  and  ribbons  !  !  What  a  disgusting  sight !  No  wonder 
that  the  indignant  legislature  of  this  colony  have  hurled  back 
the  "  convicts  act  amendment  bill,"  which  her  majesty  has  once 
returned,  believing  in  the  supreme  power  of  her  prerogative. 
Mr.  Latrobe  will  hardly  dare  to  use  the  veto,  when  the  feeling 
is  so  unanimous. 


CHAPTER  X. 

MELBOURNE,  November  7,  1853. 

"  LAST  night  the  peaceful  inhabitants  of  our  quiet  village 
were  aroused  from  their  midnight  slumbers  by  the  appalling  cry 
of  fire." 

The  above  slip  from  a  backwoods  paper  will  exactly  show 
you  the  peculiar  position  that  our  good  people  were  placed  in 
a  few  nights  since.  The  fire  was  in  Collins  street,  and  in  a  very 
short  time  several  worshippers  at  the  synagogue  were  relieved 
of  their  heavy  stock  of  goods.  Some  six  or  eight  buildings 
were  burnt  and  about  half  a  million  dollars  worth  of  property 
destroyed.  I  mention  this  simply  because  it  is  the  first  fire  we 
had  since  my  arrival  in  the  colony.  It  was  exceedingly  sadden- 
ing to  see  the  hard  earned  gains  of  the  poor  Jews  so  quickly 
scattered  to  the  four  winds  of  Heaven — but  no  looker-on  from 
Brother  Jonathan's  domains  was  expected  to  control  his  mirth 
when  watching  the  clumsy  movements  and  puny  efforts  of  the 
two  or  three  asthmatic  fire  engines  that  were  clustered  together 
through  the  influence  of  the  little  hand  alarm  bell.  It  would 
have  amused  any  one  who  has  an  appreciation  of  the  ludicrous, 
to  have  been  a  spectator  of  the  scene.  Of  course  such  an  event 
as  a  fire  in  Melbourne  must  occasion  a  universal  turnout.  On 
the  one  side,  all  arranged  with  military  exactness,  were  the  gov- 
ernor and  suite  ;  on  the  other  you  had  the  mayor  and  the  whole 
corporation,  while  the  mounted  police  were  continually  moving 
to  and  fro. 


LACK    OF    FIRE    ENGINES.  407 


The  machines  were  placed  after  much  delay  before  the  burn- 
ing buildings,  preparatory  to  the  arrival  of  that  most  important 
clement,  the  water — which  was  brought  in  one,  or  two  water  carts 
all  tke  way  from  the.  river,  each  taking  about  two  hundred  gal- 
lons !  To  empty  and  return  again  was  their  duty,  while  the 
engines  in  dispensing  over  the  burning  mass  their  quart  pot  full 
of  Yarra,  accomplished  theirs  ! 

I  have  seen  a  little  boy's  engine,  which  we  used  to  have  in 
Waltham,  manned  by  a  few  "  ten  year  olds,"  that  would  throw 
more  water  in  one  hour  than  they  did  here  in  the  forenoon. 
Had  there  been  any  mud  the  whole  street  must  have  gone  by 
the  board,  before  these  poor  wretched  insurance  office  concerns 
could  wet  their  whistle.  By  and  bye  look  out  for  a  regular  San 
Francisco  leveler.  The  city  is  full  of  old  tinder  boxes,  put  up 
before  the  passing  of  the  building  act,  and  as  the  winds  are  some- 
times perfectly  fearful,  and  not  an  engine  worthy  the  name  in 
the  whole  place,  nor  a  hook  and  ladder  company,  what  is  there 
to  prevent  our  having  a  regular  San  Francisco  fire  ?  Some  of 
the  colonists  present  were  completely  thunder-struck  when  I  told 
them  how  we  should  have  managed  on  a  similiar  occasion. 
They  could  not  understand  the  suction  hose  principle.  This 
taking  the  water  directly  out  of  the  river,  and  passing  it  along 
from  one  engine  to  another  until  it  deluges  the  flames  1  Hun- 
niman  would  do  well,  I  have  no  doubt,  to  send  out  on  spec,  a 
couple  of  his  far-famed  tubs,  two  that  were  never  "  washed,"  call- 
ing one  "  Yarra  Yarra" — the  other  the  "  Melbourne,"  coupled 
with  some  appropriate  Yankee  motto.  If  the  authorities  did 
not  take  them,  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  start  volunteer 
companies  among  the  Americans,  who  would  quickly  raise  the 
needful,  where  there  is  such  a  fine  opportunity  of  displaying 


408  FANCY    BALL. 

their  talents  of  managing  the  "  machines" — and  knowing  that 
the  chocolate  and  coffee  on  such  occasions  are  excellent  1 

The  grand  fancy  ball  came  off  with  distinguished  eclat.  It 
was  most  creditable  to  the  mayor,  and  will  no  doubt  be  the 
means  of  re-electing  him.  A  few  thousands  judiciously  spent  on 
such  occasions  will  do  more  to  keep  in  office  than  all  the  speech- 
making  in  Christendom  I  Some  of  the  dresses  were  truly  mag- 
nificent. Newport  and  Saratoga,  or  even  the  continent,  would 
not  be  ashamed  to  admit  them.  Every  possible  nation,  every 
distinguished  character  in  history,  every  conceivable  dress,  was 
represented.  I  saw  several  beautiful  military  costumes,  and  in 
the  morning  report  I  observed  that  "  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Saunders 
appeared  as  a  lady  and  gentleman  of  the  nineteenth  century  /" 
while  two  or  three  were  mentioned  as  being  in  the  "anti-Bloom- 
er costume."  Now  the  aforementioned  characters  are  all  Greek 
to  me  ;  but  will  give  you  a  good  idea  of  Melbourne  newspaper 
descriptions.  There  were  but  two  American  ladies  present, 

Mrs. of  Boston,  and  Mrs. of  Cincinnati ;  the  former 

as  Lady  Rowena,  the  latter  as  Zukika  in  Don  Giovanni.  His 
excellency,  who  was  present  in  full  uniform,  was  exceedingly 
complimentary,  and  gave  them  the  credit  of  being  the  belles  of 
the  room.  As  Mr.  Latrobe  is  an  old  courtier,  and  consequently 
a  ladies'  man,  he  very  likely  told  some  forty  others  the  same  1 
Your  correspondent  appeared  as  Parthenia's  friend  and  you  can 
imagine  how  majestic  he  must  have  looked  with  his  formidable 
whiskers  and  flowing  locks,  completely  buried  in  skins  and  mail, 
as  Ingomar,  the  barbarian. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

MELBOURNE,  December  6,  1853. 

SINCE  my  last  the  Chusan  has  made  her  appearance  with  the 
September  mail  and  sailed  again.  She  made  good  time.  Her 
news,  to  September  8,  together  with  that  brought  by  the  Fly- 
away from  New  York,  to  August  21,  has  completely  disheart- 
ened us.  Since  my  arrival,  the  20th  May,  our  markets  have 
been  sick  ;  but  the  fair  prospect  of  a  cessation  in  shipments  has 
kept  our  spirits  buoyant,  and,  by  mutual  consent,  holders  of 
goods  talked  up  prices  to  a  fair  nominal  figure,  merely  nominal, 
I  must  allow,  for  when  there  is  no  purchaser  'tis  rather  difficult 
to  effect  a  sale.  The  business  men  iu  Melbourne  have  been  liv- 
ing on  hope,  but  the  late  advices  from  America  and  the  mother 
country  have  made  them  all  look  as  black  as  a  thunder  cloud  1 
No  wonder.  Who  could  have  believed  it  ?  Who  for  a  moment 
could  have  thought  of  our  far-sighted  merchants  sending  goods 
enough  here  for  a  population  of  teu  times  ours  ?  I  sincerely 
believe  that  the  whole  shipping  world  is  mad  ;  for  it  does 
really  seem  stark  lunacy  the  way  they  are  going  on  in  England, 
and  I  cannot  say  much  more  for  the  United  States  !  With  a 
population  not  exceeding  800,000  in  all  the  colonies,  we  have 
been,  are  still  receiving,  and  shall  continue  to  receive  goods  for 
the  next  three  months,  for  at  least  five  millions  of  people  !  I 
believe  that  nothing  will  stop  shipments  to  this  country  but  a 
lithographic  sketch  of  the  Melbourne  market  in  the  shape  of  a 
Melbourne  account  sales  !  Nothing  else  will  do  it,  I  am  confi- 


410  FICTITIOUS    REPORTS. 


dent.  A  peep  at  the  books  will  stop  them,  if  such  a  thing  is 
possible. 

Everybody  supposed,  and  very  reasonably,  too — that  no  ship- 
ments would  be  made  to  this  country  from  the  States  from  July 
to  October.  But  the  fact  shows  the  fallacy, 

The  Australian  gold  fields  have  thrown  the  whole  world  in  a 
speculating  fever,  which  will  not  pass  the  crisis  for  many  months  ; 
but  when  once  the  pulse  beats  regularly,  the  patient  will  be  in 
good  flesh  and  health  for  the  commercial  race  of  competition. 
Goods  must  be  sacrificed,  consignments  thrown  away,  and  many 
fortunes  lost,  many  rich  men  made  poor,  before  the  poor  man 
can  be  made  rich  in  shipments  to  Australia! 

I  am  willing  to  admit  that  I  among  the  rest  was  carried  away 
by  the  dazzling  brilliancy  of  the  Southern  El  Dorado.  When 
I  left  Boston  I  was  as  much  a  victim  to  the  excitement  as  any 
one,  and  built  as  many  castles  as  the  most  sanguine,  and  who 
could  help  it  after  reading  the  reports  that  were  sent  from  this 
country  twelve  months  ago.  Yes,  I  repeat,  reports  that  went 
home  from  Melbourne  and  Sydney  ! — reports  which  the  news- 
papers echoed  far  and  wide,  reports  destructive  •  to  a  legitimate 
commerce,  and  enervating  the  healthy  working  of  trade  ! — re- 
ports made  to  catch  the  eye  of  every  adventurer  ! — brief  but 
insinuating,  such  as  "great  scarcity" — "  high  prices" — "enor- 
mous consumption"  and  "extraordinary  demand."  Reports  which 
will  be  the  means  of  ruining  many  a  young  house,  who  have  em- 
barked their  all  in  this,  for  a  short  time  "  South  Sea  Bubble"  of 
the  ninteenth  century  ! 

Every  day  goes  to  convince  me  that  advices  went  from  this 
country  last  fall  and  winter  that  would  give  facts  the  lie — sent 
home  for  a  special  purpose  ! 

Such  accounts  have  led  many  into  the  trade   that  can  ill 


YOUTHFUL    SPECCLATIOX3.  411 


afford  to  sink  so  suddenly  what  little  they  had  gained  ;  but  to 
all  such  I  must  give  my  sympathy,  for  I  can  well  remember  the 
fatal  result  of  my  first  shipment  of  onions  to  Great  Britain.  I 
saw  everybody  shipping  them,  and  believed  a  fortune  was  to  be 
made,  and  I  worked  days,  thought  at  my  meals,  and  dreamt 
nights,  until  the  bills  of  lading  were  signed  at  2s  6d  freight  for 
twenty  Jive  barrels  silver  skins,  marked  T  [in  a  diamond]  to 
Liverpool,  on  board  the  good  ship  Washington  Irving.  They 
were  picked  by  hand  and  packed  in  the  cleanest  of  barrels,  and 
coopered  with  scrupulous  exactness,  and  paid  for,  from  my  clerk- 
ship salary,  (I  went  without  a  new  suit  of  Sundays  all  that  sum- 
mer). Those  who  have  been  shipping  to  Australia  may  form  a 
slight  idea  of  my  anxiety  about  remittances  and  accounts. 
'Tvvas  awful  suspense,  my  letter  of  instructions  was  carefully 
written,  not  a  word  too  many,  simply  advising  the  quality,  and 
using  the  words  "  prompt  sales  "  and  "  prompt  remittances." 
Four  months  went  past,  and  I  was  about  ordering  Menard  to 
prepare  the  aforesaid  suit,  when  lo  1  a  letter  came.  'Twos 
sealed,  and  bo»e  that  well  remembered  stamp,  B.  B.  &  Co.  I 
broke  the  seal,  I  saw  the  words  "  dull  market,"  "  regret,"  "  per- 
ishable article" — and  debit  of  £3  17s  9d  !  That  was  my  first 
and  last  shipment  of  onions  to  Liverpool  1  I  stopped  the  order 
for  the  coat,  and  practiced  economy  until  Richard  was  all  right 
once  more. 

A  continual  nightmare  has  been  hanging  over  our  market  for 
the  last  six  months,  and  now  all  hands  having  started  shipments 
again,  the  monster  stares  at  us  more  ferociously  than  ever. 

I  know  of  no  instance  in  commercial  history  where  so  large  a 
business  has  been  transacted  without  any  reliable  information. 
California  was  different,  and  even  there  first  shipments  were 
disastrous,  and  later  ones  not  much  better.  Notwithstanding 


412  WILD   DATA. 

the  enormous  quantities  of  gold  which  the  mines  have  given  up, 
I  have  no  doubt  from  the  heavy  shipments  there  California  is 
still  indebted  to  her  sister  states. 

We  have  often  known  business  men  to  enter  a  joint  stock 
company  in  the  dark,  and  book  themselves  for  a  few  hundred 
shares  on  the  recommendation  of  a  friend.  No  matter  from 
how  far  off  they  see  their  dividend  ;  but  'tis  very  seldom  you 
find  the  practical  merchant  entering  largely  into  a  commercial 
transaction  of  any  magnitude  in  a  foreign  country  without  some 
data  upon  which  to  base  his  calculation  ;  but  we  must  certainly 
allow  that  the  Australian  trade  has  been  an  exception.  The 
United  States  was  early  in  the  field,  and  has  plunged  headlong 
into  the  speculation  without  even  sufficient  geographical  knowl- 
edge to  locate  the  country.  It  is  no  usual  thing  to  find  bills  of 
lading  signed  to  "  Port  Philip,  with  the  privilege  of  Adelaide 
or  Sydney,"  just  as  if  those  places  were  as  near  each  other  as 
Boston  and  Charlestown !  and  I  have  seen  letters  directed  in 
the  most  fantastic  way,  such  as  "Melbourne,  near  Victoria," 
and  "Port  Philip,  New  South  Wales;"  and  one  had  simply 
"  Australia,"  in  addition  to  the  name  of  the  individual.  But 
there  is  nothing  like  experience.  The  trade  will  grow,  and 
America  will  be  a  strong  competitor  with  England  in  provisions 
and  "notions"  of  all  kinds. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

MELBOURNE,  December  16,  1853. 

You  will  be  surprised  to  see  how  fast  this  place  is  becoming 
Americanized.  Go  where  you  will,  from  Sandridge  to  Bendigo, 
from  the  "  Ovens"  to  Balaarat,  you  can  but  note  some  indica- 
tion of  the  indomitable  energy  of  our  people.  "  Hang  a  coffee 
bag  in  that  place  noted  for  the  warmth  of  its  temperature  and 
the  morals  of  its  inhabitants,  and  a  Yankee  will  be  sure  to  find 
it,"  says  some  observer  of  our  national  character  I 

The  true  American  defies  competition  and  laughs  sneeringly 
at  impossibilities.  He  don't  believe  in  the  word,  and  is  prepared 
to  show  how  meaningless  it  is.  It  is  not  an  unusual  thing  to 
hear  the  movers  of  some  undertaking  that  has  been  dragging 
its  slow  carcase  along,  remark  : — "  If  you  want  to  have  the 
jetty  finished,  you  must  let  the  Americans  take  hold  of  it ;" 
and  sure  enough  they  have  obtained  the  contract  to  complete 
the  Hobson's  Bay  Railroad  Pier,  and  our  countrymen  mechanics 
invariably  receive  the  preference. 

A  mail  or  two  since  I  wrote  you  about  the  Tittlebat  appear- 
ance of  the  Melbourne  fire  brigade  at  the  late  fire  in  Collins 
street,  and  suggested  the  propriety  of  your  sending  us  out  a 
Boston  tub  or  two,  just  for  aggravation  sake.  Hardly  had  my 
letter  cleared  the  Heads  before  we  had  another  scorcher,  more 
furious  than  the  first,  burning  down  some  half-dozen  buildings 
in  Flander's  lane.  The  Americans  could  not  endure  it  any 
longer,  and  on  the  spot  determined  to  volunteer  their  services 


AMERICAN'S    STARTING    FIRE    COMPANIES. 


for  the  public  good.  It  was  too  much  for  our  weak  nerves  to 
see  the  reckless  destruction  of  property,  simply  for  want  of  a 
suitable  engine.  The  next  morning  our  paper  was  started  and 
sixteen  thousand  dollars  subscribed  in  less  time  than  it  takes  to 
perform  the  Episcopal  service,  for  the  purchasing  of  the  suitable 
apparatus  for  a  thoroughly  efficient  fire  department  under  the 
volunteer  system.  After  all  the  American  houses  had  contrib- 
uted their  fifty  pounds,  the  paper  was  passed  round  among  the 
"merchants  of  all  nations,"  who  gladly  gave  us  a  helping  hand. 
The  enclosed  scrip  from  the  Argus  will  show  you  that  this  is  no 
flash  in  the  pan,  but  a  genuine  go  ahead  affair.  A  committee 
has  been  appointed  to  wait  upon  his  excellency,  with  a  brief 
outline  of  our  system  of  managing  such  affairs,  and  to  request 
the  government  to  furnish  us  with  engine  houses,  &c.,  if  it  met 
with  his  sanction  and  approval.  A  meeting  will  be  called  to 
hear  the  report  of  said  committee,  and  if  favorable,  the  orders 
for  the  engines  will  be  sent  forthwith. 

As  most  of  the  Atlantic  States  are  represented  here  by  mer- 
cantile houses,  there  is  quite  a  difference  of  opinion  about  where, 
and  by  whom  said  machinery  shall  be  made — some  say  Boston, 
(and  I  most  respectfully  would  intimate  that  I  am  one  of  that 
number,  having  for  many  years  a  most  religious  belief  in  the 
superiority  of  that  city  over  many  others  for  clipper  ships,  clip- 
per mechanics,  clipper  engines,  clipper  scholars  and  clipper  mer- 
chants 1)  Some  say  New  York,  others,  Philadelphia,  while  one 

•  i  -  T   t 

or  two  believe  in  Baltimore.  To  settle  the  question,  we  may 
have  to  draw  from  each,  an  engine  for  competition  sake, — each 
maker  will  then  be  striving  to  excel,  and  we  shall  accordingly 
get  the  best  "  mer-chines." 

This  movement  will  show  you  that  the  Americans  are  not 
asleep. 


DUST    KEPT   DOWN.  415 


A  few  day  since  I  was  trying  my  veil,  preparatory  for  the 
cloud  of  dust  that  sweeps  along  Collins  street,  between  Queen's 
and  Swanston,  when  my  old  eyes  were  made  glad  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  real  old  Boston  water  cart  in  full  operation.  The 
streets  were  being  watered,  and  'twas  amusing  to  see  the  aston- 
ished natives  on  each  side  gaping  incredulously  at  the  watering 
machine.  No  wonder,  poor  benighted  race.  It  was  something 
they  never  dreamed  of ;  they  could  not  understand  how  that 
water,  which  they  were  paying  two  dollars  a  cask  for,  should  be 
scattered  up  and  down  the  street.  One  man,  more  intelligent 
than  the  rest,  had  presence  of  mind  enough  to  climb  up  on  the 
wheel  and  tell  the  driver,  amid  a  shout  from  the  knowing  ones, 
that  the  water  was  all  leaking  out  of  his  cart ! 

On  inquiry,  I  found  that  an  American  was  watering  the  street 
on  subscription.  I  noticed  one  spot  in  the  middle  of  the  street 
as  dusty  as  ever,  while  either  side  was  carefully  sprinkled.  It 
seems  that  the  occupant  of  the  store  adjoining  declined  paying 
for  the  luxury,  so  the  driver  stopped  just  before,  and  commenced 
sprinkling  again  just  after  having  passed  his  door  ! 

A  company  of  American  Californians  have  started  a  line  of 
passenger  wagons,  (American,  of  course,  made  at  Concord)  — 
to  Bendigo  ;  another  party  have  two  teams  running  from  Gee- 
long  to  Balaarat ;  and  some  Cape  Cod  folks  are  doing  a  good 
business  with  some  Yankee  coaches  between  Sandridge  and 
Melbourne. 

There  are  about  one  hundred  New  York  buggy  wagons  in 
and  about  the  city,  mostly  owned  by  Englishmen,  who  for  a 
long  time  could  not  believe  that  the  tiny  spokes  and  slender 
wheels  and  springs  were  sufficiently  strong  to  carry  their  weight  I 
They  are  much  delighted  with  the  covered  buggies,  and  well 


r 

416  AMERICAN    BEVERAGES. 


they  may  be,  for  the  sun  comes  down  most  scorchingly  upon 
those  who  sport  a  "  dog  cart !" 

Some  two  or  three  Americans  are  engaged  in  catching  fish, 
some  forty  miles  from  town,  for  this  market ;  another  party  are 
cutting  firewood  at  the  Heads,  on  speculation — while  Moss  is 
selling  American  ice  at  the  Criterion  at  fifty  cents  a-pound. 

.  American  timber  shuts  out  the  colonial  ;  and  American  min- 
ing tools  have  already  displaced  the  English. 

American  liquors  stand  no  chance  here — but  the  American 
drinks  are  very  popular,  and  now  having  exercised  the  peculiar 
privilege  of  an  American  in  saying  what  he  can  of  his  country- 
men, permit  me  to  wish  you  and  your  readers  as  many  happy 
returns  of  the  new  year  as  it  may  be  pleasant  for  you  and  them 
to  enjoy. 


." 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

MELBOURNE,  January  1, 1854. 

WE  take  no  note  of  time,  although  time  takes  notes  of  us. 
Twelve  months  ago  I  should  as  soon  have  thought  of  occupy- 
ing a  pulpit  in  Timbuctoo  as  a  counting  house  in  the  antipodes. 
Give  me  Liverpool  with  its  dense  fogs  and  rains,  or  Boston  with 
its  easterly  winds,  to  this  infernal  region,  for  a  hotter  place 
than  Melbourne  at  this  season  of  the  year  I  hope  I  may  never 
locate  in.  While  you  are  luxuriating  in  furs  and  fires,  drinking 
mulled  wine  at  Porter's  and  sleighing  on  the  Neck,  I,  poor  devil, 
am  wearing  away  an  unhappy  new  year  in  imbibing  luke  warm 
Yarra-yarra,  and  in  endeavoring  to  catch  a  breath  of  fresh  air 
amid  the  clouds  of  dust  that  always  Accompany  the  hot  winds. 

Here  I  am,  sans  ice,  sans  fruit,  sans  everything  but  the  blues, 
the  Australian  indigo  blues  I  Who  can  help  it,  when  suffocat- 
ing with  heat,  eaten  up  with  flies,  and  choking  with  dust  ? 

The  fruits,  bah  1 — the  meanest  farm  down  east  would  eclipse 
the  whole  colony  in  eatables.  Twenty-five  cents  for  a  little  dried 
up  peach  !  two  dollars  for  a  quart  of  cherries  !  and  fifty  cents 
for  a  s&>d  cucumber  I — shades  of  the  Pilgrims,  protect  us  from 
such  a  dessert,  where  the  only  fruits  known  are  the  emu  and  the 
kangaroo.  Give  me  the  rainy  season,  with  all  its  mud  and 
dampness,  rather  than  this  pestilential,  fire  scorching,  dust-chok- 
ing sirocco,  which  almost  drives  me  mad.  The  country  far  and 
wide  is  parched  with  the  intense  heat,  and  the  few  cattle  are 


418  THE    PARLIAMENT. 


dying  for  food  and  water  ; — and  I  believe,  in  spite  of  assertions 
to  the  contrary,  that  this  is  a  fair  specimen  of  an  Australian 
summer.  Sydney's  work  on  this  country  and  Martin's  Colonies 
ace  precious  gems  to  guide  the  unsuspecting. 

Herewith  is  the  report  of  the  select  committee  on  the  consti- 
tution. I  send  it  to  you  believing  that  politically  as  well  as 
commercially  you  are  anxious  to  hear  from  us.  The  document, 
for  an  English  colony,  is  decidedly  democratic,  although  many 
of  its  clauses  have  a  tinge  of  the  opposite  color. 

The  parliament  of  Yictoria,  by  this  paper,  is  to  be  invested 
in  two  houses,  the  legislative  council  and  the  house  of  assembly, 
the  veto  resting  in  her  most  gracious  majesty,  through  her  roy- 
al representative  the  governor,  the  former  to  be  wholly  elective, 
consisting  of  twenty-five  members,  whose  term  of  office  is  ten 
years — the  colony  to  be  divided  into  five  electoral  districts, 
each  sending  five  members,  whose  qualification  for  office  must 
be  a  free-hold  of  £10,000,  and  a  British  born  subject  of  thirty 
years  of  age. 

Now  this  is  what  I  consider  perfectly  absurd,  this  bolstering 
up  in  such  a  freak  of  fortune  country  as  Australia — the  money 
qualification — this  placing  gold  against  brains.  How  few  great 
minds  would  have  ornamented  our  senate,  had  it  required 
$50,000  to  give  them  a  seat  ! 

Wealth,  in  my  opinion,  has  weight  enough  already  with  the 
masses  without  pushing  it  forward  by  a  statute  regulation.  The 
clause  making  a  man  British  born  will  of  course  shut  out  all  the 
Shields'  and  Soules  !  Away  with  ambition,  ye  political  outsiders, 
for  ye  are  not  permitted  to  enter  the  sacred  precincts  of  the  house 
of  lords  I  We  may  expect  to  see  no  Pitts  in  that  arena,  for  a 
legislative  councilor  must  be  thirty  years  of  age.  'Twas  a  young 

poet  that  said — 

.  • 

L* 


HOUSE    OF    ASSEMBLY. 


419 


"  Man  at  thirty  thinks  himself  a  fool " — 
and  is  pretty  sure  of  it  at  forty,  &c. 

I  suppose  the  committee  thought  it  would  be  too  American 
to  call  the  upper  house  the  senate.  There's  dignity  in  that 
name  ;  it  has  a  Roman  sound,  and  calls  to  mind  the  giant  intel- 
lects, Clay,  Calhoun,  Webster.  I  have  seen  none  here  worthy 
to  touch  the  hem  of  their  garments,  none  that  bear  the  stamp 
of  statesmen.  Do  note  the  qualifications  for  electors  to  this 
august  body  !  I  forbear  commenting, 

The  house  of  assembly  holds  a  member  only  three  years, 
every  200  electors  giving  one  member — colony  divided  into 
counties,  and  the  large  counties  into  ridings  ;  qualification  for 
said  office,  ,£2000  free-hold,  and  British  born  subject,  or  seven 
years'  naturalization.  This  will  give  you  a  glance  at  the  much 
talked  of  constitution.  Liberal  in  many  things,  supremely  re- 
diculous  in  others,  most  likely  it  will  be  modified.  The  diggers 
have  a  word  to  say  ;  they  are  independent  dogs,  and  are  ready 
at  anytime  for  a  shindy. 

Pardon  me  if  my  brevity  is  saddening — if  my  pen  is  dressed 
in  the  sombre  garb  of  mourning,  for  within  two  short  hours 
I  have  seen  consigned  to  a  dark  and  dismal  grave  the  breath- 
less forms  of  two  young  men.  I  have  but  just  returned  from 
the  new  cemetery,  and  the  funeral  rites  and  grave-yard  reflec- 
tions still  occupy  my  thoughts.  Mr.  Hammatt,  a  young  Amer- 
ican, of  Bangor,  Me ,  and  Wallen,  a  young  Englishman,  long 
residing  in  Philadelphia,  have  gone  to  their  long  home  ;  and 
distant  friends  will  join  me  in  shedding  a  tear  for  the  fate  of 
those  two  youths,  of  fair  prospects  and  good  name,  who  wan- 
dered so  far  away  for  gold  and  found  a  grave  ! 

Young  Hammatt  came  passenger  in  the  Plymouth  Rock,  and 
brought  me  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Mr.  George  McLel- 

*   VJL  4 


^ 

420  SAD   FUNERAL. 


Ian,  of  the  Boston  custom  house.  He  has  been  battling  with 
fortune  at  the  gold  fields,  and  for  many  a  long  day  has  been 
drooping  with  that  ruthless  destroyer,  consumption,  brought  on, 
no  doubt,  by  exposure  in  the  mines  and  the  mutability  of  the 
climate.  He  died  at  Sandridge,  where  his  companions  from 
Bangor  did  all  they  could  to  smooth  his  dying  pillow.  But  yet 
he  was  far  away  from  home,  no  loving  mother,  no  gentle  sister, 
no  relative,  none  near  and  dear  to  soothe  his  fading  moments 
and  hold  the  taper  that  lights  the  dreary  pathway  to  the  tomb  ! 

Death  at  the  antipodes  !  'Tis  hard,  'tis  very  hard  to  die  so 
far  from  home  and  kindred,  and  most  saddening  to  witness 
robust  youth,  so  full  of  blissful  hope  and  happiness,  linger  away 
and  die  in  a  strange  laud,  surrounded  with  none  of  the  luxuries 
of  home  !  Not  even  a  clergyman  who  understands  the  meaning 
of  sympathy  I  for  the  cold  formality  of  the  written  prayer  seems 
so  professional,  in  comparison  with  the  gentle  flowers  that  a 
New  England  preacher  strews  over  the  coffin  lid,  where  words  of 
consolation  settle  on  the  mind,  it  were  almost  mockery  to  listen 
to  it.  "Tis  most  melancholy  to  witness  the  proceedings  of  an 
Australian  funeral  I  An  American  dies,  and  even  though  a 
stranger,  is  followed  to  the  tomb  by  his  fellow  countrymen. 
I  am  proud  to  record  this  kindred  feeling,  this  noble  sympathy, 
this  love  of  country.  It  was  an  unusual  sight  to  the  old  colo- 
nists to  witness  so  many  American  buggy  wagons  in  a  funeral 
train  ! 

Young  Wallen  has  been  here  about  twelve  months,  and  from 
his  strong  and  athletic  constitution  you  would  hardly  have  pro- 
nounced him  an  early  victim  to  the  fell  destroyer.  He  was  all 
life  and  energy,  and  very  popular  in  his  social  and  business  rela- 
tions. He  was  engaged  to  a  young  lady  in  Philadelphia,  and 
has  only  waited  for  the  return  of  his  father  from  the  States  to 


'     : 

DYING   ABROAD.  421 


go  for  his  fair  bride.  Alas  I  the  dark  border  of  the  funeral 
note  will  throw  a  shade  of  sadness  over  that  young  heart  which 
many  months  and  years  of  weeping  memories  cannot  dispel ! 

The  funeral  ceremony  was  peculiarly  national.  A  printed 
notice  was  sent  to  all  the  friends,  gloves  and  long  crape  badges 
were  provided  for  all  present,  and  in  an  adjoining  room  a  table 
was  profusely  spread  with  cake  and  wine  !  The  hearse  was 
decorated  with  white  plumes,  illustrative  of  youth,  and  the 
church  service  was  as  chill  as  the  atmosphere  and  no  ladies  at- 
tended the  funeral. 

"  In  the  midst  of  life  we  are  in  death" 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

SYDNEY,  K  S.  W.,  March  1st,  1854. 

You  will  never  fully  appreciate  the  beauty  of  the  introductory 
remarks  to  Meagher's  lecture  on  Australia  till  you  have  passed 
Sydney  Heads  and  dropped  your  anchor  in  the  clear  blue 
waters  of  Port  Jackson.  The  Heads  present  a  most  imposing 
appearance,  towering  as  they  do  so  many  hundred  feet  above 
the  surface  of  the  water,  one  enormous  mass  of  scraggy  rock, 
out  of  which  the  immortal  chisel  of  the  creator  had  cut  a  narrow 
gateway  for  the  convenience  of  the  world,  so  small  the  aperture 
and  so  bold  the  coast,  even  Cook,  the  adventurous  navigator, 
lost  sight  of  it  and  steered  his  bark  in  the  afterwards  far-famed, 
only  in  a  name,  Botany  Bay  1  But  the  sailor  at  the  mast-head 
saw  the  placid  waters  of  Sydney  a  few  miles  inland,  and  thus 
the  harbor  was  discovered  before  its  entrance. 

From  Port  Philip  to  Port  Jackson  the  coast  presents  a  most 
singular  aspect,  the  whole  country  bearing  the  impress  of  inun- 
dation. Much  as  has  been  said  about  the  dangerous  navigation 
between  Melbourne  and  Sydney,  for  my  part  I  should  think  the 
underwriter's  risk  much  greater  on  our  Atlantic  border,  or  in 
making  many  of  the  ports  of  Britain.  The  coast  is  well  marked, 
and  in  fair  weather  your  course  is  briefly  told  ;  you  need  not 
hug  the  land,  but  make  your  distance  from  point  to  point.  But 
when  you  encounter  one  of  the  dense  fogs,  or  get  brought  up 
by  a  genuine  "  southerly  buster,"  look  out  for  breakers,  for  they 
are  always  rattling  along  the  shore.  I  saw  the  rock  where  the 


BEAUTY  OF  NATURAL  SCENERY.  423 


ill  starred  "  Monumental  City "  buried  so  many  of  her  victims, 
and, as  you  gaze,  your  fancy  is  busy  with  the  distressing  scenes 
it  pictures,  and  you  think  you  hear  the  wail  of  drowning  misery. 

Our  passage'  was  a  brilliant  one,  and  by  it  the  "  Golden  Age" 
has  placed  her  competitors  a  long  way  in  the  distance.  With 
a  fair  wind  the  best  time  ever  made  from  Heads  to  Heads 
by  experimental  steamships  was  51  hours,  while  we  have  done 
the  distance  in  43  with  the  wind  dead-ahead,  and  Capt.  Porter 
is  confident  that  English  coal  and  favorable  weather  will  shortly 
bring  it  inside  of  40  hours  !  It  was  a  novel  sight  to  the  good 
people  in  Sydney  to  witness  our  enormous  proportions,  for  the 
quick  report  of  the  brass  gun  brought  hundreds  to  the  view. 
The  upper  saloon,  the  massive  walking  beam,  the  great  height 
of  the  top  hammer  from  the  water,  and  the  peculiar  model  of 
the  long  black  hull  without  a  bowsprit,  were  severally  the  topics 
of  comment  and  surprise.  But  the  picturesque  appearance  of 
the  bay,  studded  with  so  many  miniature  villas  and  so  much 
natural  beauty,  was  much  more  novel  and  interesting  to  me. 

I  have  never  seen  nor  have  I  ever  read  of  any  place  in  the 
world  that  can  compare  with  it.  It  seems  as  though  nature 
had  concentrated  on  the  border  of  her  water-works  the  combin- 
ed loveliness  of  a  long  range  of  inland  scenery. 

The  hurry  and  whirl  of  a  new  city  swelling  its  commercial 
boundaries  almost  to  bursting,  the  rapid  change  of  shaky  wood 
and  tottering  composition  to  substantial  stone  and  mortar,  the 
busy  stir  and  the  quick  step  of  a  Melbourne  life,  had  entirely 
driven  from  my  memory  the  fact  that  Sydney  is  over  half  a  cen- 
tury old  ;  and  not  till  I  had  observed  in  some  portions  of  it  a 
strong  resemblance  of  English  Chester  and  Scotch  Edinburgh, 
did  I  realize  that  the  town  is  almost  as  old  as  our  constitution. 
Go  where  you  will  throughout  this  fine  old  place,  you  see  the 


424  SYDNEY. 

unmistakable  stamp  of  England  and  the  English.  You  forget 
when  witnessing  the  snug  domains  and  classic  cottages  which 
ornament  its  environs,  and  the  home  look  of  the  wealthy  citizen, 
that  you  are  so  far  from  the  mother  country,  much  farther  (if 
you  measure  distance  by  mails)  than  the  star  of  the  Pacific — 
California. 

Like  Boston,  Sydney  has  little  uniformity  in  its  streets.  Their 
irregularity  is  as  puzzling  as  are  those  everlasting  squares  in 
Philadelphia.  Some  of  the  principal  thoroughfares  were  kept 
very  tidy,  while  in  others  I  was  forced  to  walk  in  the  gutter — 
being  the  only  clean  place  I  could  find  1 

The  city  cannot  well  be  hid,  from  the  simple  fact  of  its  being 
built  upon  a  hill,  and  we  need  never  look  for  its  fall,  as  it  is 
founded  on  a  rock.  The  whole  site  is  one  massive  quarry  of  sand 
stone,  in  many  places  towering  some  fifty  to  one  hundred  feet 
above  the  surface.  'Tis  very  convenient  to  get  sufficient  material 
from  your  foundation  to  construct  your  entire  building. 

Some  of  the  buildings  now  being  erected  in  George  street  are 
choice  specimens  of  architecture.  The  Bank  of  New  South 
Wales  for  instance,  and  the  Commercial  Bank  are  both  great 
ornaments  to  the  city.  These  institutions  can  well  afford  the 
immense  outlay,  for  Australia  banking  is  a  eureka  mine  to  stock- 
holders. The  stranger  is  particularly  struck  with  surprise  when 
the  cabman  tells  him  that  the  cathedral,  now  about  half  finish- 
ed, was  commenced  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  I  You  can  hardly 
credit  it,  but  such  is  the  fact.  It  was  a  magnificent  undertak- 
ing but  too  heavy  for  the  purse  of  its  projectors.  They  are  still 
at  work  upon  it,  and  posterity  may  yet  hear  the  man  of  God 
hold  forth  beneath  its  sacred  roof.  I  believe  that  several  sums 
have  been  left  by  those  in  the  parish  to  help  along  its  comple- 
tion, but  it  will  be  a  long  time  I  fear  before  annuities  finish  it  ; 


ELEGANT    LIVERIES.  425 


for  well  wishers  must  die  rapidly,  or  the  foundation  will  decay 
ere  the  roof  is  prepared. 

There  are  several  other  unfinished  churches  in  Sydney,  com- 
menced in  1842,  the  panic  year,  when  the  strongest  houses  snap- 
ped like  a  wish-bone,  and  business  was  laid  upon  the  shelf. 

The  private  equipages  here  entirely  eclipse  our  Yictoria  cap- 
itol.  I  saw  several  superb  liveries.  England  is  copied  in  this 
respect,  for  the  footman  and  the  lackey  wear  the  breeches  and 
the  boots.  The  public  conveyances  are  much  superior  to  those 
in  Melbourne,  many  of  them  being  formerly  private  carriages. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

SYDNEY,  N.  S.  W.,  March  2,  1854, 

IN  my  last  I  confined  myself  within  the  borders  of  the  city, 
now  I  propose  to  wander  over  and  about  its  environs,  and  to 
give  you  a  bird's  eye  view  of  Botany  Bay,  South  Heads  and 
Parramatta,  the  three  principal  excursions  from  the  metropolis, 
all  of  which  will  cater  to  your  enjoyment  when  you  visit  Sydney, 
for  they  are  as  attractive  in  their  beauty,  and  bear  the  same  re- 
lation to  the  place,  as  our  suburban  rides,  to  the  village  of  the 
pilgrims. 

Botany  Bay  has  become  a  proverb,  a  bugbear  in  parliamen- 
tary debates,  a  demon  in  the  nursery,  no  matter  how  rapid  the 
march  of  intellect,  no  matter  what  other  penal  prison  may  be 
patronized,  Botany  Bay  has  too  firm  a  hold  upon  the  mind  to 
die  away.  When  in  earnest  argument,  or  in  general  conversa- 
tion where  crime  is  the  topic,  and  you  don't  wish  to  send  the 
criminal  to  the  place  where  they  don't  rake  up  fire  nights,  you 
immediately  procure  him  a  passage  to  Botany  Bay.  And  yet, 
singular  as  it  may  seem,  there  is  nothing  in  it  or  about  it  that 
shocks  the  sense,  or  jars  the  feelings  of  the  most  delicate  tour- 
ist. Captain  Cook  christened  it  for  the  foliage  and  the  plants, 
and  the  first  convict  ship  cast  anchor  in  its  silent  waters.  Hence 
the  name,  and  hence  the  association,  a  medal  sunk  in  the  rock 
is  all  the  reminder  you  have  of  Cook,  and  a  small  white  monu- 
ment informs  you  that  La  Perouse  was  seen  on  the  spot  for  the 


BEASTS    AND    BIRDS.  427 


last  time.     Like  Sir  John  Franklin,  and  Leichhardt,  none  knew 
the  place  or  the  manner  of  his  death. 

Not  a  building  is  to  be  seen  upon  the  sea  shore,  save  the  hotel, 
which  is  the  Gretna  Green  of  Sydney,  the  Rockland  House  of 
Boston.  The  shore  has  a  barren  look  when  not  shaded  with 
the  trees,  and  a  small  jetty  extending  some  hundred  feet  into 
deeper  water,  is  the  only  indication  of  an  "  hereditary  peerage."1' 
The  grounds  about  the  house  are  very  beautiful  and  the  garden 
is  filled  with  the  choicest  flowers,  but  what  was  most  interesting 
to  me  was  a  good  view  of  the  birds  and  beasts  of  Australia. 
The  emu  resembles  the  ostrich,  and  runs  with  great  speed. 
There  were  three  or  four  of  these  birds  running  abont  the  yard 
as  tame  as  turkeys.  Their  great  size  and  awkward  gait  at- 
tracted as  much  notice  as  did  the  clumsy  lounging  movements 
of  the  kangaroos.  It  is  amusing  to  watch  the  movements  of 
these  peculiarly  constructed  quadrupeds.  A  kangaroo  hunt  is 
most  exciting,  but  it  is  soon  ended,  for  the  steady  pull  of  the 
well  trained  hound  tells  upon  the  long  legged,  long  leaping  jump- 
er, and  while  the  fox  under  such  circumstance  seeks  his  hole,  the 
kangaroo  turns  at  bay  and  the  sharp  horny  claw  on  the  hind 
feet  does  fearful  execution  on  a  pack  of  hounds. 

The  black  swan  resembles  the  white  in  most  respects  save  its 
color,  and  the  native  deer  takes  to  the  water  as  naturally  as 
this  bird. 

Birds  of  every  species  were  to  be  seen  about  the  house  and 
in  the  grounds  ;  and  in  a  menagerie  adjoining  were  several  ani- 
mals from  the  Indies,  among  which  was  a  beautiful  Bengal  tiger. 
Among  the  birds  the  cock-a-too  pleased  me  the  most ;  it  is 
easily  tamed,  and  talks  with  much  fluency,  saying  "pretty 
cocky  "  as  plainly  as  a  human  voice.  Botany  Bay  is  short  of 
ten  miles  from  the  city,  and  I  think  it  the  pleasantest  seashore 
retreat  in  the  country. 


:*. 

**-* 

428  VIEW    FROM   THE    HEADS. 


South  Heads  are  studded  with  the  lighthouse  and  the  tel- 
egraphic station,  and  you  reach  them  over  a  good  macadamized 
road  of  seven  or  eight  miles,  the  labor  of  the  early  convicts. 
The  view  from  the  summit  is  most  imposing,  and  covers  the 
country  far  inland,  the  whole  scenery  of  the  beautiful  bay,  the 
picturesque  aspect  of  the  scattered  shipping,  and  the  classic 
situation  of  Sydney  itself.  Besides  which  you  have  a  splendid 
prospect  all  along  the  border  of  the  ocean  and  far  out  to  sea. 
It  requires  some  nerve  to  look  down  the  cliff,  which  overhangs 
the  water ;  its  great  height  is  enough  to  make  a  sailor  giddy. 

Returning  we  passed  Wentworth's  Place,  which  is  situated 
close  upon  the  bay,  a  romantic  retreat  for  the  Australian  states- 
man. Among  the  thousand  and  one  trees  that  line  the  roadside 
I  discovered  nothing  familiar  to  the  gaze,  all  seem  different  from 
those  in  our  part  of  the  world,  not  even  a  shrub  did  I  detect, 
save  a  specimen  of  the  common  brake.,  that  I  ever  saw  in  the 
United  States. 

Parramatta  derives  its  name  from  the  river,  and  is  some  fif- 
teen miles  from  Sydney.  Through  the  politeness  of  Captain 
Fitzroy,  A.  D.  C.,  and  son  of  the  governor  general,  our  party 
was  provided  with  a  lunch  at  the  government  house  there.  A 
gallant  little  steamer  took  us  up  the  river,  which  gave  us  a  fine 
view  of  the  country  round  about,  and  carriages  had  been  pro- 
vided to  bring  us  back  inland. 

In  Sir  George  Gipp's  day  the  goverument  property  at  Parra- 
matta was  in  thorough  repair  and  the  grounds  were  most  taste- 
fully arranged,  but  under  the  present  administration  they  have 
been  sadly  neglected.  The  town  is  very  English,  and  appeared 
to  me  very  much  as  Thorpe  did  to  Mr.  Mountford.  Nash's 
Hotel  is  much  better  arranged  and  kept  than  many  of  those  iu 
Sydney. 


FORCES   AT    SYDNEY. 


429 


I  saw  the  progress  the  directors  had  made  with  the  Parra- 
matta  railroad,  and  should  suppose  that  the  Pacific  line  will  be 
completed  before  this  road  has  passed  its  youthful  days. 

A  locomotive  whistle  in  Australia  will  be  an  era  in  the  na- 
tion's progress,  and  time  will  be  dated  from  that  day  !  Wake 
up  ye  Sydney  people,  or  Melbourne  will  take  the  bread  from 
your  mouths  !  The  young  giant  is  already  boasting  of  his 
strength,  and  your  natural  position  will  not  offset  his  energy — 
socially  ye  are  a  hospitable  community,  but  commercially  ye  do 
not  keep  up  with  the  age  in  which  ye  live. 

Government  and  enterprise  have  done  little  for  Sydney, — 
nature,  everything.  I  fear  now  it  is  too  late  ;  the  rival  of  Port 
Philip  is  attracting  the  gaze  of  the  whole  world,  and  I  point 
you  to  the  shipping  for  the  truth  of  my  assertion. 

Sydney  is  the  oldest,  but  not  the  most  progressive  of  the 
mother  country's  Australian  children  ;  she  is  the  oldest  and  has 
been  the  most  favored,  for  she  is  the  head  of  which  the  others 
are  the  body. 

The  commander  of  the  forces  and  the  governor  general  are 
quartered  here,  but  how  long  they  will  remain  is  a  question  we 
will  answer  later  on. 

I  should  not  be  at  all  surprised  to  hear  that  Melbourne  is  •  to 
be  the  centre.  She  deserves  it,  her  population,  her  commercial 
greatness,  her  geographical  position,  demand  it. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

SYDNEY,  K  S.  W.,  March  7,  1854. 

WHERE  you  meet  with  one  ship  in  Port  Jackson  you  will  see 
a  dozen  in  Hobson's  Bay.  The  whaling  fleet  have  cut  the  place 
— for  it  would  never  answer  to  touch  Australia  in  the  golden 
age,  for  Jack  would  be  off  to  the  diggins  !  Everything  is 
changed  in  that  respect.  No  convicts  are  employed  now  in  the 
coasting  trade,  as  formerly — you  must  get  your  sailors  where 
you  can. 

The  port  seems  to  have  been  selected  as  a  hospital  for  dis- 
abled steamships,  the  Adelaide,  one  of  the  A.  R.  M.  S.  S.  Co.'s 
boats,  has  been  lying  here  for  a  six  month — a  bad  investment 
for  a  new  steamship.  The  captain  abandoned  her,  but  the  un- 
derwriters kicked,  and  Captain  Henderson  has  been  sent  out  by 
the  owners  to  get  her  home,  if  possible.  I  hope  he  will  succeed 
with  the  old  tub.  The  pioneer  Cunarder  is  also  here,  the  old 
Unicorn,  which  Captain  Wood  sold  for  Messrs  Howland  & 
Aspiuwall  for  about  $25,000. 

The  Tasmania  (the  East  Boston  old  "  Rajah  Wallah,")  is 
also  another  lame  duck  I  can  see  anchored  in  the  stream.  But 
what  American  ships  are  those  just  under  the  stern  of  the  Gold- 
en Age,  bearing  the  English  flag  ?  Ton  my  soul,  they  are  the 
old  Boston  packet  ships  Washington  Irving  and  Anglo-Ameri- 
can, the  pioneers  of  Train's  line,  that  were  sold  in  London  some 
two  years  since  !  I  saw  them  at  Melbourne  when  I  arrived 
last  May  ;  now  here  they  are  at  Sydney,  they  must  have  made 


-.A  .±.*4 

SQUADRON   OF   OLD   WHALERS.  431 

*£ -     ** 

quick  trips  to  England.  Although  you  have  built  the  Sover- 
eign of  the  Seas  and  the  Great  Republic,  you  have  no  reason 
to  be  ashamed  of  your  old  acquaintances,  Mr.  McKay.  The 
Washington  Irving  still  holds  the  name,  but  the  Anglo-Ameri- 
can flourishes  under  the  more  supercilious  soubriquet  of  "  Arro- 
gant." The  brilliant  author  of  the  Hudson,  of  whom  we  all 
feel  so  proud,  will  be  pleased  to  hear  that  his  namesake  is  still 
alive,  and,  that  although  she  unfurls  another  flag,  she  supports 
her  honors  with  a  good  grace. 

Off  "  Capt.  Town's  "  wharf  some  twelve  or  fifteen  old  whale 
ships  are  laid  up  in  regular  line,  the  squadron's  christened  "  rot- 
ten row."  He  buys  them  at  auction,  and  lays  them  aside,  he 
says,  for  rainy  days.  He  is  confident  that  sailor's  wages  will 
fall,  and  that  a  good  business  will  spring  up  at  some  future  day 
to  bring  them  into  use. 

There  is  a  beautiful  little  steamer,  yclept  the  "  Fairy  Queen," 
that  plies  across  the  bay,  a  perfect  Tom  Thumb  of  a  boat, 
whose  counterpart  you  will  only  find  in  the  classic  waters  of 
Loch  Katrine. 

The  tide  falls  some  six  feet,  and  deep  water  berths  are  as 
thick  as  wealthy  convicts. 

Mr.  Williams,  the  fifteen  years  United  States  consul,  removed 
under  Fillmore  and  re-appointed  under  Pierce,  has  a  pleasant 
place  at  Balmain.  He  stands  well  in  the  community,  and,  al- 
though he  has  married  an  Australian  lady,  his  feelings  are 
American. 

Mr.  Clark  resides  at  the  "  Glebe,"  and  entertains  in  Chester- 
field style.  Woolloomooloo  and  the  Glebe  are  the  Roxbury 
and  Brookline  of  Sydney.  What  a  pity  they  did  not  introduce 
a  few  more  o's  in  the  former  name. 

To-morrow  we  leave  for  Melbourne,  and  the  "  Golden  Age" 


•r 

432  SOCIAL   GENOROSITT. 


has  a  fair  freight  list  and  a  good  number  of  passengers.  As 
promised,  I  touch  off  one  more  squib,  and  leave  the  place  with 
my  impressions. 

I  need  not  say  that  I  was  much  prejudiced  against  Sydney 
when  I  arrived  here,  for  I  had  heard  of  the  strange  treatment 
that  the  Americans  receive  from  the  English.  Gossip  had  made 
me  familiar  with  Mr.  Raymond's  case,  and  I  thought  you  could 
see  which  way  the  wind  was  by  straws  !  He  was  most  unfortu- 
nate in  having  one  of  the  vigilance  committee,  who  was  instru- 
mental in  sending  back  several  who  had  arrived  in  San  Fran- 
cisco as  captain  of  the  "  New  Orleans,"  and  that,  together  with 
the  loss  of  the  "  Monumental  City,"  creating  no  small  sensation, 
and  the  republishing  in  Sydney,  from  a  California  paper,  that 
ill-fated  letter  which  Mr.  Raymond's  friend  so  imprudently  gave 
to  the  press,  all  tended  to  increase  the  feeling  of  distrust  and 
prejudice.  But  this  is  fast  dying  away  ; — America  and  Aus- 
tralia are  too  intimately  connected  in  their  commercial  relations 
to  allow  illiberal  views  on  either  side  to  spring  up  and  check 
their  progress. 

I  say  that  I  was  not  prepossessed  with  the  people  or  the  place 
when  I  arrived,  but  now  at  my  departure  I  see  the  injustice  of 
my  conclusions. 

If  I  am  to  judge  by  the  hospitality  our  party  has  received 
during  our  ten  days  visit  from  every  quarter,  I  should  put  Syd- 
ney against  the  world  for  courtesy. 

Sir  Charles  Fitzroy,  the  governor  general  of  all  the  colonies, 
is  a  plump  John  Bull  of  the  free  and  easy  school ; — a  gentle- 
man whose  hospitality  extends  over  a  wide  circle  of  his  friends. 
He  is  a  Ion  vivant  in  its  literal  sense,  and  is  as  good  a  judge  of 
claret  or  Burgundy  as  you  will  find  in  the  colony.  He  has  held 
the  reins  of  government  some  six  or  seven  years  with  Deas 


DINNER   AT   THE   GOVERNMENT   HOUSE.  433 


Thompson  for  his  premier,  a  man  of  strong  mind  and  well  read. 
It  is  understood  that  an  India  appointment  would  exactly  touch 
the  wishes  of  his  excellency,  but,  as  he  is  somewhat  advanced  in 
years,  I  doubt  if  he  obtains  one.  Captain  Porter  gave  him  a 
quiet  lunch  on  board  the  "  Golden  Age,"  and  he  returned  the 
compliment  by  inviting  our  party  to  dine  with  him,  a  courtesy 
much  more  marked  from  the  fact  of  his  detaining  the  "  Calliope," 
government  vessel  which  he  was  about  embarking  in  for  the  new 
settlement  a  day  or  two  to  carry  out  his  intentions. 

We  had  a  delightful  time  at  the  government  house,  a  build- 
ing which  shames  its  namesake  in  Melbourne.  Twenty-two  of 
us  sat  down  to  the  table  loaded  with  the  luxuries  of  the  day, 
and  from  the  rapidity  with  which  the  plates  were  changed,  you 
would  imagine  yourself  in  the  Hotel  de  Paris ! 

Sir  Charles  acted  the  host  to  perfection,  having  a  kind  word 
for  all.  In  the  evening  we  saw  the  elite  of  Sydney,  and  as  the 
lackey  announced  name  after  name,  some  of  them  ringing  with 
titles,  I  thought  that  Sydney  boasted  a  society  that  Melbourne 
never  dreamed  of ! 

But  to  me  the  lions  of  the  evening  were  William  Wentworth 
and  his  opponent  Darvall.  They  seemed  to  me  the  shining  lights 
in  that  brilliant  assembly.  I  felt  that  I  knew  them  both,  for 
I  had  but  just  read  the  exciting  debates  on  the  new  constitu- 
tion, where  these  two  orators  were  the  Hayne  and  Webster  of 
the  day. 

There  he  stood,  the  tall  herculean  frame,  the  hard  weather- 
beaten  visage,  the  American  constitution-hater,  Wentworth  ! — 
the  giant  intellect  of  New  South  Wales,  the  Tom  Benton  of  the 
legislature — for  he  has  been  eloquent  for  thirty  years  in  the 
councils  of  his  country.  He  leaves  in  the  Chusan  for  England, 
to  push  his  nominee  constitution  down  the  throats  of  the  minis- 


434  AUSTRALIAN    LEGISLATORS. 


try,  and  through  the  legislative  stomach  of  the  English  parlia- 
ment !  But  it  may  not  go  down,  Mr.  Wentworth  !  Parliament 
will  reject  the  titled  pill,  Mr.  Wentworth,  which  you  have  so 
carefully  prepared  ;  and  what  will  be  the  result,  Mr.  Went- 
worth ?  The  puzzled  ministry  will  say  here's  a  pretty  pickle  I 
New  South  Wales  asks  for  a  nominee  upper  house  !  Victoria 
says,  give  me  an  elective  chamber  ! — and  South  Australia  wants 
neither  one  nor  the  other.  Yan  Diemen's  Land  and  New  Zea- 
land will  shortly  be  "knocking  at  the  door,  let  me  in,"  with  an 
entirely  different  proposition.  Now  what  shall  we  do  but  send 
them  all  back  to  form  a  federal  government  a  la  America,  the 
centre  of  which  will  be  Melbourne  ?  Vive  le  Australia ! 

But  I  am  wandering  again  from  Sir  Charles's  guests,  and 
Mr.  Wentworth  begs  to  introduce  me  to  his  friend  (?)  Mr.  Dar- 
vall,  "  whose  sentiments  are  more  congenial  to  mine."  We 
thank  you,  Mr.  Darvall,  for  upholding  American  institutions. 
You  have  gallantly  defended  us  from  Mr.  Wentworth's  cat- 
throat  stabs.  How  nicely  you  riddled  his  argument,  how  inge- 
niously you  showed  up  the  fallacy  of  his  logic  !  That  repartee 
on  his  namesake — one  of  the  early  governors  of  the  Granite 
State,  was  a  capital  hit ;  and  the  way  you  handled  the  slave 
question,  the  Baltimore  riot  among  the  printers  in  1812,  and 
the  double  election  senate,  did  you  credit.  You  have  now  our 
admiration,  Mr.  Darvall ;  and  when  you  visit  the  United  States 
you  will  find  a  room  already  engaged  for  you.  Permit  me  to 
introduce  to  you  Sir  Charles  Nicholson,  the  speaker  of  the  legis- 
lative council,  the  provost  of  the  university,  and  the  owner  of 
the  largest  and  finest  library  in  the  colony.  He  is  a  wealthy 
bachelor  of  the  old  school,  and  is  noted  for  his  kindness  to  our 
countrymen.  He  speaks  familiarly  of  Wilkes  and  Ringgold, 


HOSPITALITY    OF    THE   GOVERNOR.  435 


and  other  officers  of  our  government,  whom  he  has  entertained 
in  Sydney. 

We  met  Professor  Bell  and  Dr.  Wooley,  of  the  ministry,  at 
his  hospitable  table— for  he  is  a  patron  of  belles  lettres.  Those 
I  met  spoke  highly  of  his  excellency  ;  and  from  what  I  can 
gather,  Sydney,  the  Australian  writer,  told  the  truth  when  he 
said  you  would  seldom  find  "  a  better  governor  than  this  good- 
natured,  ball-giving,  George-the-Fourth  style  of  Fitzroy."  Gov- 
ernment House  is  a  splendid  building,  and  you  will  have  to  go 
to  England  to  find  another  such  a  park.  The  early  governors 
must  have  lived  in  style  ;  and  Sir  Charles,  before  the  death  of 
his  wife,  must  have  had  something  of  a  court  on  his  presidential 
salary  of  $25,000  per  year.  His  sons  are  gay  birds,  and  in 
reputation  have  almost  astonished  their  illustrious  predecessor. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

MELBOURNE,  July  16,  1854. 

THE  last  time  I  had  the  pleasure  of  taking  you  by  the  hand 
in  your  editorial  sanctum  you  requested  me  to  give  you  an  ink- 
ling of  Australia,  its  commerce  and  its  people,  and  you  also 
wanted  an  occasional  gossipping  note  of  general  news, — you 
have  had  both.  Since  the  time  I  made  Point  Nepean,  more 
than  a  year  ago,  I  have  jotted  down  snch  items  as  came  beneath 
my  notice  and  passed  them  over  to  you  with  my  impressions  of 
the  day.  My  object  has  been  to  give  you  a  fair,  impartial  view 
of  life  in  the  Southern  Ocean,  and  to  comply  with  the  oft-repeat- 
ed request  of  many  kind  and  dear  acquaintances  in  my  native 
city,  (whose  friendship  I  prize  far  more  than  all  the  glittering 
dust  of  Bendigo  or  the  precious  "nuggets"  of  Balaarat,)  who 
begged  of  me  to  write  them  something  of  this  peculiar  land,  so 
far  famed  for  its  bunyip  productions  of  the  animal  and  vegetable 
kingdom  ! 

Whether  I  have  succeeded  or  have  only  laid  myself  open  to 
invidious  remarks,  you  are  best  informed.  If  my  gossip  has 
proved  of  interest  to  some  few  of  the  many  whose  attention  has 
been  turned  towards  the  Yictorian  gold-fields,  I  am  satisfied  ; 
if  not,  I  am  willing  to  "  cut  the  painter  T'  My  evenings  and 
the  seventh  day  of  the  week  are  all  my  own  ;  my  days  belong 
to  the  sterner  cares  of  business.  My  first  mercantile  lesson  for- 


SURPLUS   IMPORTS.  437 


bade  private  correspondence  in  business  hours  ;  and  I  assure  you 
I  have  never  broken  the  precept  or  forgotten  the  preceptor. 

Having  thus  "  defined  my  position  "  for  the  benefit  of  "  whom 
it  may  concern,"  permit  me  to  say  that  a  year's  experience  be- 
neath an  Australian  sun  has  not  made  an  Englishman  of  me, 
and  I  doubt  if  a  lifetime  in  the  colony  could  allure  from  me  my 
passport  as  an  American,  as  one  of  the  glorious  many  I 

Give  me  leased  property  and  citizenship,  to  freehold  and  alien- 
ation. 

Twelve  months  experience  in  Melbourne  during  the  memor- 
able years  of  1853  and  '54  will  prepare  one  to  raise  his  shingle 
in  Japan,  open  an  ice-cream  saloon  in  the  African  desert,  form 
a  copartnership  in  Patagonia,  or  attempt  any  enterprise,  how- 
ever hazardous  1  'Tis  experience  dearly  bought,  but  valuable 
when  in  possession.  San  Francisco  with  its  rotting  importa- 
tions is  no  counterpart  to  this  remarkable  port.  The  millions 
sunk  there  may  exceed  the  enormous  sums  buried  here,  but  there 
will  always  be  a  wide  difference  between  the  two  places — as 
wide  as  between  the  cash  and  credit  system  ! 

If  we  can  judge  by  our  recent  advices  from  California,  this 
country  is  far  the  largest  consumer,  and  will  prove  herself  the 
fairest  mark  for  the  speculative  shipper.  Do  you  doubt  it? 
Look  at  the  figures.  Australian  imports  last  year  reached  the 
enormous  sum  of  eighty-Jive  millions  of  dollars  !  and  the  imports 
into  this  colony  reach  three  hundred  dollars  a  head  to  each  man, 
woman,  and  child  in  Victoria  !  Can  you  point  to  me  in  the 
whole  range  of  commercial  history  another  such  a  statement? 
No,  the  world  never  saw  the  parallel  1  Is  not  then  a  country 
that  can  stand  alone  under  such  a  staggering  load  worthy  the 
attention  of  the  emigrant  and  the  shipper  ?  aud  now  you  have 
the  statistics  can  you  wonder  why  our  markets  reached  this  sick- 


438  GOLD    CROP. 


ening  level,  and  have  proved  so  disastrous  to  the  early  adven- 
turer ?  At  one  time  six  hundred  ships  in  Hobson's  Bay,  deep 
loaded  with  valuable  cargoes,  all  clamoring  to  be  discharged — 
and  no  lighters,  no  drays,  no  warehouses,  no  wharves,  no  con- 
veniences of  any  kind  !  Do  you  not  then  pity  the  pioneers  in 
the  trade,  who,  while  they  have  been  borne  down  by  cares  and 
perplexities  which  no  other  place  can  equal — begging  here  and 
there  a  little  storage,  and  trusting  Tom,  Dick  and  Harry  in 
their  endeavors  to  make  sales,  who,  while  they  have  gone  through 
the  fire  and  smoke  of  the  Australian  furnace,  are  obliged  to 
shoulder  the  censure  and  bear  the  blame  of  stagnant  markets 
and  unfortunate  speculations  ? 

But  now  a  brighter  day  has  dawned,  and  once  more  we  are 
blessed  with  a  clear  sky  and  a  brighter  prospect.  Remember 
that  while  our  imports  have  startled  the  world,  our  exports  are 
not  beneath  your  notice.  Remember  that  from  January,  1853, 
to  January,  1854,  we  shipped  one  hundred  tons  of  gold ! — and 
from  the  commencement  of  the  present  year  to  date,  over  fifty 
tons  of  the  precious  dust  have  been  sent  abroad !  So  you  may 
safely  put  down  our  gold  product  at  one  hundred  tuns  per  annum 
as  the  official  statement,  not  including  the  large  quantities  in 
the  hands  of  passengers  ! 

Fifty  millions  of  dollars  will  answer  for  an  annuai  capital, 
and  if  any  one  doubts  it,  it  will  guarantee  our  solvency  ! 

The  average  production  for  the  last  three  months  exceeds  the 
same  period  last  year  by  some  ounces,  and  a  larger  emigration 
of  able  bodied  miners  would  very  much  increase  that  quantity. 
We  are  now  in  an  excellent  position  for  a  healthy  trade.  There 
are  plenty  of  warehouses  now,  and  lighters  and  drays  and 
wharves  are  fully  equal  to  the  demand. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

MELBOURNE,  July  23,  1854. 

LAST  evening  I  had  the  pleasure  of  sitting  down  at  the  Crite- 
rion to  a  grand  feast,  given  by  his  countrymen,  to  the  patriot 
statesman  William  Smith  O'Brien,  and  his  companions  in  exile, 
Martin  and  O'Dougherty.  Our  countrymen  have  shown  a 
warm  sympathy  in  these  poor  exiles,  and  I  know  there  are 
many  who  will  be  glad  to  hear  a  word  about  these  martyrs  to 
a  glorious  cause  !  There  are  thousands  of  whole-souled  Irish- 
men, commencing  with  the  distinguished  senator  from  Illinois, 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  who  will  be  glad  to  welcome  to 
our  shores  this  illustrious  man  1 

The  meeting  was  most  enthusiastic,  cheer  after  cheer  rang 
through  the  densely  crowded  hall.  When  O'Brien  rose  to  res- 
pond to  the  toast  of  the  evening,- never  have  I  witnessed  such  a 
demonstration  ;  cheering  and  clapping  of  hands  and  stamping 
of  feet ! — the  wine  glasses  rattled,  the  windows  shook,  and  the 
whole  building  seemed  to  tremble  with  the  raised  voices  of  a 
hundred  and  fifty  jolly  Irishmen  ! 

'Twas  a  proud  moment  for  the  orator  ;  he  seemed  deeply 
affected,  and  his"  emotions  choked  his  utterance,  for  a  time  ; 
but  untying  his  cravat  and  unbuttoning  his  shirt  collar,  he 
thanked  them  with  a  true  and  earnest  thankfulness  for  their 
kind  welcome.  He  met  them  socially,  he  could  not,  he  would 
not  touch  on  politics.  His  freedom  had  come  to  him  unsolicited  ; 
never,  said  he,  have  I  attempted  to  escape,  although  I  have  had 


440  THE    EXILES. 


many  opportunities,  for  I  would  never  acknowledge  that  I  was 
a  criminal,  but  I  do  not  censure  in  the  least  my  compatriots 
who  are  in  America.  I  counseled  Mr.  Mitchel  to  do  so,  and  I 
consider  him  stainless  in  point  of  honor,  but  there  is  one  thing 
that  it  pains  me  to  know,  and  that  is  the  position  which  he  has 
taken  in  regard  to  slavery.  I  am  sorry  for  this,  and  cannot 
understand  it ;  but  so  far  as  his  escape  is  concerned,  his  honor 
is  as  pure  as  my  own.  Just  so  is  it  with  my  friend  Mr.  Meagh- 
er,  a  young  man  of  great  and  sterling  promise.  I  understand 
that  he  is  about  to  become  a  citizen  of  that  glorious  country, 
the  United  States  of  America.  Should  he  do  so  I  predict  that 
he  will  do  honor  to  that  kind  hearted  people  who  have  shown 
so  much  sympathy  for  those  poor  refuges  who  bore  the  curse  of 
English  tyranny  and  injustice.  He  (Mr.  0.  B.)  here  became 
much  excited,  and  related  the  causes  of  his  banishment,  and 
spoke  of  the  trials  he  had  endured  in  Tasmania,  branded  as  he 
was  as  a  common  felon.  He  spoke  feelingly  of  his  country,  and 
advised  his  countrymen  to  emigrate  to  America,  there  they 
were  men,  at  home,  serfs.  Even  now  I  am  not  permitted  to 
visit  my  native  soil.  I  am  free  to  come  when  I  please,  reads 
my  reprieve,  but  cannot  touch  the  shores  of  Britain.  His  sen- 
timents are  unchanged.  For  five  years  they  have  tried  his  cour- 
age, and  for  five  years  he  has  been  true. 

Mr.  O'Brien  spoke  kindly  of  his  friends  who  shared  his  prison 
walls,  and  seemed  grateful  to  all  who  have  befriended  him.  He 
could  not  say  too  much  about  America,  and  concluded  his  re- 
marks by  proposing  her  prosperity  and  welfare. 

He  is  about  fifty  years  of  age,  and  is  a  fine  looking  man.  He 
is  a  parliamentary  speaker,  having  been  a  long  time  in  the  house 
of  Commons.  He  is  of  noble  family  and  high  connections,  and 
is  a  gentleman  of  handsome  property.  For  no  selfish  reason, 


IRISH   PATRIOTS.  441 


or  for  any  private  purpose  but  his  country's  welfare,  he  entered 
the  arena  of  revolution.  He  failed,  internal  causes  prevented 
his  success,  a  packed  jury  convicted  him  of  high  treason,  and  he 
was  banished  for  life  !  His  cause  was  a  just  one.  The  canker- 
ing worm  of  English  misrule  was  destroying  his  unhappy  coun- 
try when  he  threw  himself  into  the  excitement  of  the  day  ! 

Our  land  is  broad  and  beautiful,  and  our  institutions  show  the 
healthy  growth  of  self-government.  Ireland  is  rich  in  her  inter- 
nal resources,  but  mismanagement  has  made  her  poor. 

Martin  seems  to  avoid  politics,  but  is  bitter  against  his  op- 
pressors. He  is  also  a  man  of  wealth  and  good  estates  in  Ire- 
land. They  wait  his  return,  and  must  wait  five  years  more,  for 
his  parole  does  not  permit  him  to  return  to  his  native  land 
until  his  sentence  has  expired.  He  is  a  middle  aged  man, 
with  a  noble  but  melancholy  face  ;  he  has  no  pretensions  to  elo- 
quence. O'Dougherty  is  about  30,  and  is  also  a  fine  looking 
man.  He  has  studiously  pursued  his  profession  as  a  medical 
student,  while  at  Hobart  Town  ;  and  it  is  his  purpose  now  to 
return  to  Paris  to  finish  his  education. 

O'Brien  goes  to  Belgium,  where  his  family  are  to  meet  him. 
Martin  also  goes  to  the  continent,  and  I  believe  they  all  go  by 
this  overland  mail.  They  probably  will  not  visit  America  for  a 
year  or  two,  but  I  doubt  if  they  ever  enter  again  among  the  use- 
less agitations  of  their  country.  Long  exile  seems  to  have  sadden- 
ed their  lives  and  crushed  their  spirits.  Wherever  they  breathe 
the  air  of  free  government  they  will  be  welcome,  and  I  can 
only  wish  that  they  may  receive  as  cordial  a  welcome  wherever 
they  may  go  as  Mr.  O'Shaughnessy  and  their  countrymen  have 
given  them  here !  Addresses  and  substantial  presents  have 
been  showered  upon  them  both  here  and  in  Geelong.  They 


442  THE    NEW    GOVERNOR. 


stop  at  Dr.  MotherwelFs,  a  warmhearted  Irishman,  of  large  prac- 
tice, and  many  friends. 

The  Golden  Age  on  the  5th  of  May  bore  away  our  old  gov- 
ernor, Charles  Joseph  Latrobe,  Esquire,  and  the  Queen  of  the 
South,  on  the  21st  of  June,  brought  us  our  new  one,  Sir  Charles 
Hotham,  K.  C.  B.  The  Hon.  John  Foster,  the  colonial  secre- 
tary, was  "the  officer  administering  the  government"  in  the 
interim.  The  reign  of  Charles  the  First  terminated  with  the 
departure  of  the  former  vessel,  while  that  of  Charles  the  Second 
commenced  on  the  arrival  of  the  latter,  King  John  (as  he  is 
called  by  the  Argus)  filling  up  the  blank  with  all  the  honors, 
but  none  of  the  titles  of  the  office. 

Mr  Latrobe  has  many  warm  friends  herjs  among  the  squat- 
ters, but  he  was  not  a  man  of  the  people.  Throughout  the  col- 
ony of  Victoria  you  find  no  great  public  enterprise  stamped 
with  his  name.  He  was  a  capital  governor  for  Melbourne  in 
1837,  but  1853  and  '54  require  men  of  action  and  of  mind. 
Since  its  first  issue,  the  Argus  has  been  thundering  away  at  him 
to  "unlock  the  lands,"  to  "open  the  high-ways  with  proper 
roads,"  to  "  build  wharves  and  docks,"  and  in  a  thousand  ways 
to  "  develop  the  resources  "  of  the  country,  but  without  success. 
Like  the  wife  of  the  illustrious  Dombey  you  couldn't  get  him  to 
make  an  effort !  Sir  Charles  Hotham  is  of  a  very  different  cal- 
ibre, and  the  people  of  this  colony  have  given  him  a  glorious 
welcome ;  addresses  from  societies,  from  towns  and  from  incorpo- 
rated bodies  have  been  showered  upon  him  with  generous  profu- 
sion ;  all  have  extended  the  hand  of  fellowship.  The  procession 
was  long  and  the  cheers  were  loud.  With  sublime  and  beauti- 
ful "  confusion  worse  confounded  "  they  came  "  as  earthly  con- 
querors always  come,"  passing  up  Collins  street,  one  immense 
mass  of  men  and  horses  ;  but  the  American  car,  the  American 


THE    PROCESSION.  443 


flag,  and  the  American  marshals  were  the  "observed  of  all 
observers,"  and  were  an  honor  to  their  country  and  themselves. 
The  procession  reached  from  Sandridge  to  Melbourne,  and  the 
flags  of  all  nations  and  the  mottoes  of  all  societies  were  conspic- 
uously displayed.  There  was  only  one  thing  needed  to  have  the 
whole  line  of  march  go  off  with  distinguished  eclat,  and  that 
was  the  valuable  services  of  General  Tyler  as  chief  marshal. 
Had  he  been  here,  the  governor  would  not  have  headed  the 
procession,  locked  up  by  drays  and  water  carts-,  nor  would  the 
streets  have  been  so  blocked  up  with  "  dog  carts,"  "  traps,"  and 
turn  outs  of  unpronounceable  names;  and  a  little  more  order,  I 
think,  would  have  been  observed  throughout  the  line.  On 
Prince's  bridge,  the  civic  motto  was  an  attempt  at  brilliant 
punning — 

"  Victoria  welcomes  Victoria's  choice." 

It  has  been  suggested  that  as  the  colonists  had  no  voice  in  the 
matter  of  appointment,  it  would  have  been  more  appropriate 
to  have  had  it — 

Victoria  welcomes  Hobson's  choice. 

Sir  Charles  Hotham  has  a  brilliant  future  before  him.  Never 
was  there  such  an  opportunity  for  a  man  to  make  himself  great 
as  governor  of  this  colony.  The  door  stands  open  for  enterprise 
and  action  ;  the  people,  the  press,  and  the  pulpit  are  with  him 
in  spreading  the  march  of  reform.  I  hope  he  is  equal  to  the 
times  in  which  he  lives,  for,  if  he  is  not,  depend  upon  it  his 
official  reign  will  be  painfully  brief,  for  our  people  have  begun 
to  think !  Our  politics  are  in  their  infancy,  but  their  manhood 
will  be  reached  ere  they  touch  their  youth.  They'll  burst  out 
in  all  their  glory  when  it  will  be  least  suspected. 

I  have  little  local  news  to  give  you.    Building  progresses  with 


444  RAPID    IMPROVEMENTS. 


rapidity  astonishing  even  to  those  who  have  lived  in  San  Fran- 
cisco ;  stones  and  mortar  are  everywhere  ornamenting  our  city. 
The  corporation  are  macadamizing  our  roads,  and  paving  our 
foot  paths,  and  the  government  have  commenced  building  our 
wharves  and  repairing  their  approaches, 

The  gold  fields  are  richer  than  the  richest.  The  "  Avoca " 
is  turning  out  some  rich  nuggets  ;  every  escort  is  burdened  with 
the  precious  stuff,  and  every  ship  carries  away  $200,000  of  the 
yellow  dust.  The  diggers  are  contented,  and  labor  continues 
high.  The  weather  has  been  beautiful  for  the  last  ten  days,  but 
trade  still  droops. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

MELBOURNE,  October  28,  1854 

THE  Great  Britain  has  done  well  so  far,  and  may  again,  so  I 
write  to  tell  you  that  there's  been  trouble  at  Balaarat,  and  a 
new  judge  has  been  introduced  to  the  members  of  the  bench — 
an  individual  who  in  times  passed  obtained  some  notoriety  in  our 
own  country.  You  may  remember  him.  His  name  is  Lynch  ! 

Last  week  the  diggers  rose  en  masse  against  a  judicial  decis- 
ion which  liberated  a  notorious  publican  by  the  name  of  Bently, 
who  was  arrested  for  murder.  That  night  mob  law  was  supreme! 
Ten  thousand  men  surrounded  the  house  of  Bently,  which  had 
been  a  rendezvous  of  a  desperate  gang  of  Vandiemonians,  and, 
in  spite  of  military,  police,  special  constables,  and  the  whole 
government  power,  the  hotel  and  surrounding  buildings '  were 
burned  to  the  ground.  After  which,  the  ringleaders  were  taken, 
but  the  mob  demanded  them  to  be  given  up,  which  demand  was 
complied  with.  As  soon  as  the  news  came  to  town  troops  and 
cannon  were  immediately  sent  up,  with  orders  to  "  maintain  the 
law,  regardless  of  life  or  cost,"  and  'tis  anticipated  that  blood 
will  be  shed.  The  diggers  have  felt  their  power,  and  are  not 
likely  to  fall  back  for  a  handful  of  soldiers. 

Sir  George  Gray,  the  present  colonial  minister,  having  in- 
structed our  new  governor  to  liberate  convicts  pardoned  in  V. 
D.  L.,  who  had  been  arrested  by  the  laws  of  this  colony,  a  mon- 
ster meeting  was  held  on  Tuesday,  in  the  open  air,  and  such  a 


446  EXTENSIVE    ROBBERIES. 


crowd  of  upturned  faces  I  never  witnessed  before  in  this  country. 
At  one  time  probably  not  more  than  8,000  to  10,000,  but  com- 
ing and  going  there  must  have  been  20,000.  The  speakers 
'were  bold  in  their  language,  and  declare  in  resolutions  passed 
with  cheers  that  the  queen,  in  this  instance,  must  give  up  her 
prerogative,  and  if  you  can  believe  what  was  said,  she  will  have 
to  do  so.  It  is  said  that  Sir  Charles  will  give  way.  If  not,  a 
storm  will  be  created  that  will  end  in  cutting  the  painter. 

The  convict's  act  will  not  go  down,  and  the  people  here, 
apathetic  in  everything  else,  show  a  determined  front  on  this 
question. 

Give  the  colonists  their  own  way  and  they  will  remain  loyal, 
cross  their  path  and  they  will  have  a  flag  of  their  own  !  I  pity 
the  man  who  sits  in  the  governor's  chair,  the  least  movement  is 
sure  to  betray  a  pin  ! 

The  Bank  of  Victoria,  at  Balaarat,  was  robbed  by  an  armed 
gang,  a  few  days  since,  of  about  £14,000  ;  and  it  is  reported 
that  the  manager  of  the  New  South  Wales  Branch  Bank,  at 
the  same  place,  has  embezzled  some  £20,000  !  This  will  show 
you  that  the  frauds  are  not  all  on  your  side. 

The  "  Wings  of  the  Morning  "  came  in  day  before  yesterday 
from  New  York,  but  the  "  Utter-most-parts-of-the-Sea  "  has  not 
been  heard  from.  "  Snail,"  or  "  Tortoise,"  or  "  Drone,"  I  would 
suggest  for  the  next  clipper,  just  for  a  change  ;  I  am  tired  of 
these  "  always-a-little-f aster  "  clipper  names. 

The  American  press  seem  to  have  entirely  cut  this  country. 
How  different  the  case  eighteen  months  ago  !  Then,  in  spite 
of  our  millions  of  sheep  and  cattle,  starvation  was  the  universal 
cry  ;  and,  with  the  usual  impulse  of  my  enterprising  but  specu- 
lating countrymen,  out  came  the  monster  fleet  with  the  staff  of 
life  and  general  notions  ;  the  stars  and  stripes  ornamenting  some 


AUSTRALIAN    PECULIARITIES.  441 


two  hundred  sail !  But  the  investment  was  almost  as  bad  as 
California — not  quite.  How  changed  the  scene  from  a  year  and 
a  half  ago  !  Then  Australian  editorials  rilled  the  American 
journals,  as  ship  after  ship  was  despatched,  as  house  after  house 
was  formed  ;  but  now  the  booming  of  European  cannon,  the  fili- 
bustero  movements  of  military  politicians,  who  are  desirous  of 
adding  two  more  stars  to  that  beautiful  flag  by  taking  Cuba  and 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  the  uncorking  of  Japan,  and  the  everlast- 
ing discussion  of  negro  slavery,  seem  to  have  entirely  driven 
from  your  memory  the  fact,  that  a  large  American  population 
are  digging  away  in  this  far-off  land,  who  are  as  true  and  loyal 
citizens  of  the  United  States  as  the  best  of  you,  men  who  scorn 
the  idea  of  becoming  naturalized  here,  no  matter  what  may  be 
the  inducement.  No,  busy  as  you  may  be  with  the  crowding 
events  of  this  wonderful  age,  you  need  not  forget  us,  for  some 
time  we  are  coming  home  I — the  very  thought  of  which  sup- 
ports us  in  our  exile,  and  nerves  us  to  renewed  exertion. 

But  you  must  not  forget  ns.  What  other  country  is  so  en- 
titled to  remembrance  as  ours, — where  the  stem  of  the  pear 
grows  on  the  largest  end,  and  cherry  stones  grow  on  the  out- 
side ! — where  there  are  oysters  without  shells,  and  fishes  without 
scales ! — where  a  hen  laid  an  egg  with  a  piece  of  ham  inside  of 
it,  and  a  black  cat  gave  birth  to  a  white  kitten  with  two  tails ! 
— where  sheep  luxuriate  in  "scab,"  and  dogs  die  of  the  "fe- 
ver !" — where  there  are  trees  that  shed  their  bark  instead  of 
their  leaves,  and  roses  without  smell ! — where  the  summer 
months  commence  in  November  and  the  winter  months  in 
May  1 — where  some  of  the  aristocrats  of  the  place  arc  gradu- 
ates of  Newgate,  and  where  ignorant  men  went  to  bed  poor  at 
night  and  found  themselves  rich  in  the  morning  by  the  acci- 
dental discovery  of  gold  ! — where  horses  and  men  wear  veile 


448  CURIOSITIES. 


to  shield  their  eyes  from  the  precious  dust,  and  where  gold  is 
found  in  pockets ! — where  oysters  grow  on  mountain  tops  and 
vegetables  out  of  a  caterpillar  ! — where  our  news  from  civilized 
countries  is  usually  one  hundred  days  old,  and  where  the  mails 
are  always  in  the  post  office,  and  the  females,  no  whar  ! — where 
the  natives  consider  small  babies  a  great  delicacy  and  American 
steamships  are  sold  to  pay  their  charges  !  Where  the  old  adage 
of  shipping  on  a  fallen  market  instead  of  a  rising  one  has  prov- 
ed obsolete,  and  where  merchants  get  blown  up  sky-high  for  not 
making  sales  and  remitting  a  handsome  profit  on  patent  med- 
icines, sausage  skins,  shaving  boxes,  wooden  clocks  and  half 
bushel  measures  !  Where  tea  is  sold  by  the  chest,  molasses  by 
the  pound,  cucumbers  by  the  quart,  and  where  a  drink  of  brandy 
is  a  "  nobler !"  Where  in  a  country  covering  such  an  enormous 
territory  there  are  only  two  miles  of  road  where  a  man  can 
have  the  privilege  of  riding  on  a  rail,  and  where  the  constitu- 
encies of  our  legislators  are  mainly  represented  by  sheep  !  I  say 
where  in  all  Christendom  will  you  find  another  such  a  country, 
where  everything  is  unlike  every  other  part  of  the  world  ? 
There  are  no  two  seasons  alike,  one  winter  it  rains,  the  next  we 
have  it  dry,  sometimes  longer,  sometimes  shorter,  you  can  never 
tell.  When  rice  is  ruling  at  £60  per  ton,  one  little  cargo  comes 
in  and  down  it  goes  to  d210.  So  is  it  with  many  other  things, 
up  and  down  with  every  breath  of  wind.  But  there  is  one 
thing  cheering,  if  the  bottom  has  dropped  out  of  the  markets, 
it  certainly  has  not  out  of  the  gold  fields,  for  they  regularly  pro- 
duce their  40,000  ounces  per  week,  and  last  week  it  reached 
48,000  ounces  !  So  long  as  we  continue  this  wonderful  yield 
the  country  will  attract  attention  abroad,  which  brings  me  back 
to  where  I  started,  namely,  in  saying  that  notwithstanding  its 
stagnant  markets,  it  should  not  entirely  be  forgotten  by  the  press. 


KATE    HAYS.  449 


The  markets  are  no  better,  shipments  continue,  money  is 
growing  scarcer,  solvent  purchasers  are  hard  to  find,  legislative 
council  are  doing  nothing,  amusements  we  never  have,  but  Kate 
Hays  is  coming  down  from  Sydney,  where  she  made  a  decided 
hit  in  opera  ;  Australia  will  make  her  fortune. 

To-day  is  a  holiday — cause,  opening  of  the  crystal  palace  ;  I 
did  not  go,  too  dusty,  some  say,  but  to  you  I'll  own  that  the 
price  of  tickets  had  some  effect  in  keeping  me  at  home,  only 
$16! 


OHAPTEE   XX. 

MELBOURNE,  January  31,  1855. 

THE  journals,  the  circulars  and  the  letters  which  fill  the  mail 
bags  of  the  Madras  will  show  you  Victoria,  as  she  is,  and  as 
she  has-  been,  for  this  mail  carries  the  summary  of  a  year.  The 
papers  are  filled  with  political  matter,  most  of  which  consists  in 
abase  of  the  governor  and  the  government  ;  while  the  circulars 
deal  harshly  with  the  markets,  and  the  letters  blackguard  the 
colony  generally.  One's  views  and  opinions  of  a  place  or  coun- 
try are  often  based  upon  the  success  of  the  individual.  If  he  is 
contented,  he  gives  you  a  brighter  glance  at  the  place,  than 
though  misfortune  and  bad  luck  had  shadowed  his  path.  Heavy 
losses  are  sure  to  tinge  a  man's  idea  of  the  country  in  which  he 
lives,  as  heavy  gains.  The  one  writes  dolefully,  while  the  other 
is  in  the  highest  spirits  *,  hence  you  receive  by  this  mail  a  variety 
of  opinions  regarding  our  present  position,  a  majority  of  which, 
I  fancy,  will  consign  the  colony  to  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  ; 
for  it  would  be  useless  for  me  to  say  that  there  are  hundreds 
who  are  disappointed.  I  need  give  no  better  argument,  than 
to  point  to  the  large  numbers  that  are  homeward  bound,  every 
packet  taking  its  complement  of  steerage  and  second  class  pas- 
sengers. Many  of  these  have  done  well,  and  only  go  to  return 
again  ;  but  the  majority  have  accomplished  nothing,  and  carry 
with  them  unfavorable  impressions  of  our  golden  land.  In  fact, 
I  doubt  if  those  who  arrive  one  week  and  return  the  next,  with- 
out giving  the  place  a  trial,  would  ever  have  done  anything 


GOLD    FIELD,    VERSUS    EMPLOYMENT.  451 


alarming  if  they  had  remained  at  home.  Such  people  are  not 
wanted  here  ;  but  send  us  your  hard-fisted  laborers,  the  bone 
and  sinew  of  the  land,  and  my  word  for  it,  this  is  the  place  for 
them  to  improve  their  wordly  condition.  If  they  cau  find  noth- 
ing in  the  town  to  do,  let  them  go  into  the  country,  and  pitch 
their  tent  on  some  creek  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  gold-fields, 
where  they  get  their  rent,  their  wood,  and  their  water  for  noth- 
ing, and  make  their  ten  shillings  a-day  ;  while  they  take  the 
chances  of  striking  some  monster  nugget,  a  stimulant  to  labor  ! 
It  seems  absurd  that  no  employment  can  be  had  in  a  country 
having,  so  many  broad  miles  of  mineral  lands  ! — a  country 
acknowledged  to  be  the  greatest  gold  field  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  A  country  the  greatest  portion  of  which  has  never  even 
seen  the  face  of  civilized  man.  Who  knows  what  treasures  may 
turn  up  when  the  explorer  has  planted  his  footprints  in  the  inte- 
rior ?  It  seems  to  me  very  strange  that  none  of  the  scientific 
men  of  England,  who  have  so  often  been  in  search  of  metals  in 
other  lands,  should  never  have  thought  the  interior  of  this  won- 
derful country  worthy  of  an  expedition.  There  is  hardly  anoth- 
er place  in  Christendom  so  much  neglected  in  this  respect  as 
our  great  inland  country.  I  hope,  at  no  distant  day,  some  of 
your  enterprising  geologists,  naturalists,  and  men  of  the  Mungo 
Park  stamp,  may  form  a  company  and  see  what  the  place  is 
made  of  and  tell  us  the  meaning  of  the  hot  wind  that  is  burning 
my  face  to  the  color  of  a  tanyard  !  But  for  the  laboring  man 
there  is  plenty  of  land  that  has  been  discovered  if  government 
would  only  give  it  away  to  the  actual  settler,  as  they  do  in  the 
United  States.  Perhaps  when  the  people  whose  passages  they 
pay  out  here  begin  to  go  back  foi  want  of  a  cottage  and  a  farm, 
a  little  more  rapidly  than  at  present,  our  rulers  may  see  the 
errors  of  their  ways,  and  shut  the  door  before  they  lose  their 


452  PRODUCTS. 


population.  A  want  of  water  is  a  drawback  to  such  a  colony, 
and  I  admit  that  navigable  rivers  would  have  given  it  a  wonder- 
ful impetus.  But  what  is  the  use  of  murmuring  over  what  we 
have  not  got  I  There  are  some  garden  spots  where  the  finest 
wheat  in  the  world  is  grown  ;  but  yet  for^  want  of  land,  for 
want  of  farmers,  we  are  now  paying  North  and  South  America 
£45  per  ton  for  flour,  that  we  ought  produce  ourselves.  But 
if  we  go  on  as  we  have,  since  we  found  the  gold,  we  should  not 
do  in  fifteen  years  what  California  has  done  in  five,  raised  her 
own  breadstuffs,  which  she  is  now  sending  over  to  us.  Five  or 
six  years  since,  we  dispatched  vessel  after  vessel  to  San  Fran- 
cisco with  vegetables.  Now  the  tables  are  turned,  for  lately 
several  crafts  have  arrived  from  that  port,  bringing  out  some 
six  hundred  tons  of  potatoes,  for  which  we  have  to  pay  the 
handsome  price  of  £21  per  ton.  It  is  the  same  with  hay  and 
oats,  and  all  hard  food  and  vegetables  ;  and  what  is  more  im- 
portant, breadstuffs,  we  have  to  import  them  all ;  when  the 
English  farmer,  the  stout  active  man  of  your,  midland  counties, 
might  raise  them  all,  and  keep  this  important  source  of  wealth 
within  the  limits  of  the  colony,  instead  of  paying  it  away  to  the 
foreign  producer.  Let  your  farmers  bring  with  them  capital, 
for  it  may  be  uphill  work  for  a  while,  and  I  doubt  if  they  are 
disappointed.  I  am  glad  that  the  hue  and  cry  of  the  "  unem- 
ployed" has  died  away,  and  that  cheering  accounts  come  in  from 
all  the  gold  fields.  Machinery  employs  companies  now,  and  the 
long-torn,  the  crushing  and  the  puddling  apparatus,  all  more  or 
less  assisted  by  the  steam  whistle,  are  daily  introducing  us  to 
untold  wealth.  Alone,  the  digger  meets  with  poor  success  ; 
but,  when  they  go  in  dozena,  they  work  better,  live  cheaper, 
and  more  equally  distribute  what  their  united  exertions  have 
brouerht  to  light.  Remember  that  the  £35,000,000  sterling  ! 


PROFITS    OF    DIGGING.  453 


the  330  tons  weight  of  gold  which  Victoria  has  given  to  the 
world,  was  taken  from  her  bosom  by  the  hand  of  man  !  What 
may  then  be  expected  when  machinery  is  generally  diffused 
throughout  the  gold  fields  ?  When  the  commerce  of  the  coun- 
try commenced  in  the  shape  of  the  passenger  traffic,  and  clipper 
imports,  the  question  was  raised,  will  it  last  ?  Yes  ;  if  the  gold 
holds  ont.  All  depends  upon  the  extent  of  the  fields,  the  quan- 
tity of  the  precious  metal,  and  whether  it  will  pay  for  working. 
Four  years  of  active  labor  has  shown  the  world  how  boundless 
are  the  treasures  of  the  Eureka  land.  The  gold  has  never  given 
out,  and  never  will  until  the  land,  from  east  to  west,  from  north 
to  south,  has  been  carefully  turned  over  and  analyzed.  Even 
after  the  European  throws  up  his  washing  stuff,  having  taken 
from  it  its  vitality,  the  follower  of  Confucius  is  contented  with 
gain,  which  his  more  greedy  predecessor  forsakes  for  more  pro- 
fitable material.  The  Chinaman,  on  the  Bendigo,  makes  his 
profits  from  what  the  other  diggers  leave.  The  man  whose 
health  is  spared  him,  who  cannot  earn  his  ten  or  twelve  shillings 
a-day  must  be  shiftless  indeed.  As  I  said  before  if  the  country's 
prosperity  depends  upon  the  gold  it  must  be-  always  prosperous, 
for  a  new  field  is  discovered  whenever  the  digger  has  the  mind 
to  prosper.  Within  sixteen  miles  of  Melbourne,  on  the  river, 
we  have  a  workable  gold  field  in  full  operation,  profitably  em- 
ploying several  hundred  men.  Yet  the  gold  continues  to  yield  ; 
in  fact,  increasing  from  week  to  week.  I  find  that,  notwith- 
standing the  political  troubles  that  have  agitated  the  diggings 
taking  so  many  from  their  work,  an  actual  gain  during  the  first 
three  months  of  the  present  year,  over  a  corresponding  period 
last  year  of  some  14,000  ounces.  In  1854,  the  first  three  weeks 
of  January,  show  88,638,  while  in  1855,  for  the  same  time,  we 
have  102,103  ounces.  Take  the  last  three  months  of  1854  over 


454  GOLD   STATISTICS. 


1853,  there  is  also  an  increase  pro  rata,  say  October,  November, 
and  December,  1853,  gives  by  escort,  414,608  ounces  ;  while  in 
1854  the  same  months  show  441,541  ounces  !  and  all  this  with- 
out machinery.  Bring  that  to  bear,  and  you  will  readily  see 
that  the  gold  holds  out.  Having  endeavored  to  show  that 
we  have  room  for  your  farmers,  when  the  government  give 
them  the  soil,  and  the  gold  fields  will  always  employ  the  active 
laborer,  a  few  words  on  the  offspring  of  both  gold,  labor,  and 
commerce,  may  not  be  out  of  place. 

Two  years  ago,  in  spite  of  the  millions  of  sheep  and  cattle 
which  the  meagre  statistics  gave  us  as  being  part  and  parcel  of 
the  country,  the  good  people  of  all  nations  made  up  their  minds 
that  we  were  all  about  to  starve,  and  in  the  kindness  of  their 
hearts,  dear  creatures  that  they  are  to  be  sure,  they  have 
actually  showered  upon  us  the  good  things  of  the  earth  iu  spite 
of  our  remonstrances,  month  after  month,  even  up  to  the  sailing 
of  the  November  mail,  never  even  stopping  during  the  whole  two 
years  for  a  breathing  spell ! — and  now  that  the  money  market 
is  tightening  its  grasp  on  the  purse  strings  of  the  unfortunate 
operators,  it  has  been  very  fashionable  to  abuse  this  country  for 
not  sending  home  the  £30,000,000  sterling  that  have  been  in- 
vested in  dry  goods,  sour  flour,  bad  provisions,  ban  bons,  nick- 
knacks,  Yankee  notions,  liquors,  and  building  materials  !  We 
have  been  diligently  at  work  for  some  time  reshipping  to  you  a 
part  of  this  rubbish  ;  and  even  now,  every  return  ship  has  more 
or  less  of  what  we  never  wanted.  Our  city  having  been  com- 
posed of  stone  and  brick,  and  our  streets  very  wide,  we  could 
not  burn  up  property,  as  was  the  case  in  San  Francisco,  conse- 
quently you  say  we  are  not  so  large  consumers  !  The  enormous 
losses  of  the  commission  houses  in  bad  paper,  have  perfectly 
disgusted  many  of  our  merchants  with  the  place,  hence  my  in- 


FINANCIAL  TROUBLES.  455 


troductory  remarks,  anticipating  that  the  advices  of  this  mail 
in  letters  and  circulars,  would  not  be  apt  to  show  the  country 
in  a  very  favorable  light,  providing  always  that  the  intelligence 
which  they  convey  is  to  a  certain  extent  based  upon  their  expe- 
rience. For  my  part  I  see  no  better  indication  of  future  pros- 
perity, than  by  looking  at  the  past.  A  few  lines  compose  the 
whole  subject  Credits  have  been  monstrous  ;  hence,  overtrad- 
ing and  gambling  on  other  people's  money.  This  commencing 
business  on  fictitious  capital,  and  doing  it  on  a  large  scale,  is  sure 
to  bring  about  a  panic.  We  commenced  here  six  months  ago, 
just  where  I  fancy  you  are  commencing  now,-  and  the  United 
States  is  following  your  example.  Our  financial  troubles  may 
be  summed  up  by  referring  to  the  records  of  the  insolvent  court. 
We  will  estimate  the  figures  at  two  hundred  failures,  represent- 
ing liabilities  amounting  to  three  millions  sterling  !— a  mere 
shadow  compared  to  the  losses  of  the  firm  of  Bull,  Jonathan 
and  Co., — commencing,  if  you  like,  with  Mr.  Oliver  in  Liver- 
pool, and  Mr.  Schuyler,  in  New  York,  and  ending  the  1st  of 
July  1857.  But  the  best  of  it  is,  a  good  portion  of  our  losses  and 
a  part  of  yours,  are  absorbed  in  the  colony,  taking  it  out  of  the 
pocket  of  the  individual,  and  putting  it  into  that  of  the  public  ; 
thus  increasing  our  capital  and  really  enriching  the  colony. 
Therefore,  I  argue,  that  our  present  financial  and  commercial 
embarrassments,  are  the  only  safety-valve  that  would  have  ena- 
bled us  to  recover  our  sanity  ;  and  that  the  very  causes  that 
the  circulars  and  papers  enumerate,  are  the  best  arguments  I 
can  find  to  show  our  future  prosperity.  A  single  consignment 
of  a  bathbrick,  or  a  bag  of  salt,  from  some  clerk  in  the  bank  of 
England  to  his  friend  and  relative  here  in  the  employ  of  the 
government,  was  sufficient  inducement  for  the  individual  of  the 
second  part,  to  issue  a  circular,  and  advertise  in  the  Argv,s, 


456  INSOLVENCY. 


that  the  said  brick  and  salt  consignee,  iu  connexion  with  the 
dentist  and  daguerreotype  artist  over  the  way,  has  formed  a 

copartnership  under  the  firm  of ,  for  the  contracting  of  a 

first  class  commission  business,  as  selling  for  cash  was  unheard 
of,  the  aforesaid  bought  his  stock  of  trade  of  the  old 
merchant,  who,  because  he  had  not  supposed  it  impossible  to 
make  a  bad  debt,  at  three  months.  Having  tested  credit,  the 
new  firm  open  a  bank  account  at  some  of  the  new  banks  that 
started  with  the  general  rush,  buy  goods  of  A.  B.  C.  always 
referring  to  the  man  who  has  once  given  them  credit,  and  to 
their  bank,  which  has  their  paper  under  discount,  both  of 
whom,  possibly  for  their  own  protection,  say  "  Yes,  oh  yes,  we 
trust  him  ;  we  think  them  good  ;"  and  the  consequence  is,  the 
young  men  go  on  swimmingly,  getting  credit,  spending  money, 
till  the  times  overtake  them,  the  reaction  comes,  the  banks  shut 
down  the  gates  when  they  can  with  safety  to  themselves,  and 
then  the  startling  fact  comes  out,  that  Messrs.  So  and  So — 
with  a  shrug  of  the  shoulder  towards  some  building  opposite — 
Messrs.  So  and  So  commenced  two  years  ago  with  nothing,  and 
have  failed  for  £60,000 — assets,  nil. 

The  insolvent  court  has,  therefore  thinned  out  the  greater 
portion  of  those  who  commenced  business  on  nothing,  and  less 
competition  makes  matters  healthier.  Understand  me,  I  do  not 
mean  to  say  that  all  who  have  suspended  are  of  this  class,  for 
there  has  been  many  an  honest  man  who  has  been  unfortunate. 
But  I  do  pretend  to  say  that  the  failures  in  many  instances  have 
been  shameful ;  many  have  obtained  credit  when  not  deserved, 
and  when  obtained,  has  been  sadly  abused.  But  now  the  fingers 
have-  been  burned  in  credits,  no  one  now  sells  except  for  cash, 
hence  this  want  of  confidence,  money  and  credit,  produce  dull 


CASH    BUSINESS.  457 


times  in  many  goods  that  are  not  excessive  in  stock,  during  the 
best  business  part  of  the  year. 

Some  time  since  I  gave  you  my  opinion  that  the  bills  of  the 
old  established  banks  here  on  the  parent  bank  in  London,  were  as 
good  paper  as  the  world  can  produce.  I  still  think  so,  but  so  far 
as  dividends  are  concerned,  there  will  be  a  wide  margin  between 
the  profits  of  the  past  two  years  and  the  next.  Two  years  ago, 
such  a  thing  as  a  failure  was  never  known  since  the  days  of 
gold  ;  and  hence  everybody's  paper  was  freely  discounted.  If 
the  acceptor  was  a  stranger,  the  drawer  was  good,  and  all  bills 
were  passed  ;  everything,  too,  was  promptly  met,  so  long  as 
consignments  came  forward,  and  every  petty  trader  could  buy 
and  sell  on  time.  But  the  moment  the  reaction  comes,  the  ac- 
ceptor goes  into  court,  and  the  old  merchant  has  to  stand  the 
loss,  the  banks,  in  most  cases  escaping  free,  although  some  of 
them  must  have  lost  heavily  ;  and,  in  more  instances  than  one, 
are  much  hampered  with  securities,  but  the  amounts  sunk  by 
some  of  the  old  houses  is  perfectly  frightful,  and  the  wonder  is 
that  they  have  sufficient  backbone  to  bear  such  daily  losses. 
Most  likely,  for  their  own  safety,  the  banks  are  keeping  them 
afloat,  and  it  will  save  much  misery  if  they  are  able  to  carry 
them  through.  The  new  houses  are  not  so  well  known,  and  are 
usually  dropped -the  moment  they  lose  their  feathers,  hence  the 
list  of  insolvents  (which  you  have  enclosed).  Having  been  car- 
ried away  with  times,  into  giving  excessive  credit,  they  now  per- 
haps, may  take  the  opposite  course,  and  by  throwing  out  more 
or  less  of  what  is  called  middling  paper,  oblige  many  to  stop 
that,  with  a  little  assistance,  might  work  through.  Most  of  the 
merchants  now  demand  cash,  which  of  course,  reduces  bills — 
hence  the  banks  for  the  next  six  months  will  find  their  profits 
very  much  reduced,  but  confidence  will  as  usual  be  restored,  as 


458  BANKS. 

rapidly  as  it  has  been  lost ;  then  most  likely  they  may  fall  into 
the  same  error  again,  and  go  to  discounting  as  imprudently  as 
ever.  But,  for  a  period,  good  paper  will  be  scarce  for  them  to 
lend  money  upon,  and  hence  a  great  reduction  in  their  dividends, 
say  nothing  of  the  losses  that  have  been  made  by  them,  which 
the  outsider  knows  nothing  of. 

The  position  of  a  bank  manager,  in  panic  times  is  no  envious 
one.  His  wear  and  tear  of  mind  must  be  great,  for  it  is  hard 
work  to  throw  overboard  those  who  are  not  able  to  weather  the 
storm.  His  position  too  is  one  of  great  responsibility  ;  for 
although  each  bank  has  its  active  board  of  directors,  the  actual 
work  falls  upon  his  shoulders,  and  he  has  to  bear  the  brunt  of 
all  its  losses.  The  managers  of  the  banks  are  much  respected 
by  the  community,  and  take  a  high  position  in  the  place.  Their 
salaries,  however,  are  not  such  as  would  allow  them  to  enter- 
tain, why  is  it  that  men  placed  in  such  responsible  positions  are 
so  poorly  paid?  The  old  banks  are,  the  Australasia,  the  Union, 
the  New  South  Wales,  and  the  Victoria  (colonial)  ;  but  I 
think  the  great  facility  for  discounts,  which  has  done  so  much 
harm,  has  been  brought  about  by  the  new  ones,  the  London 
Chartered,  and  the  English  and  Scotch,  both  of  which  were 
desirous  of  making  a  commencement,  and  by  giving  great  ac- 
commodation many  accounts  were  taken  from  4;he  other  banks 
who,  in  self-defence  when  they  saw  their  customers  leaving  them, 
followed  in  the  same  error  ;  hence  the  crash  when  they  stopped 
the  wheels,  and  doing,  as  they  will,  comparatively  little  the  next 
half  year.  This  is  my  reason  for  anticipating  a  great  falling 
off  in  dividends.  I  have  never  agreed  with  them  in  the  course 
they  have  taken  by  buying  gold  at  the  diggings,  running  it  up 
to  £4t  Is.,  putting  into  the  digger's  pocket  and  taking  it  out  of 
the  merchant's !  The  shipments  of  last  year  were  bad  enough 

' 

" 


'. 


FREIGHTS.  459 


without  having  exchange  so  much  against  them,  caused  by  the 
banks  going  out  of  their  legitimate  business  to  speculate  in 
gold ! 

The  Australasia,  I  believe,  is  the  only  bank  that  has  escaped 
forgery,  robbery,  or  embezzlement.  The  Yictoria,  N.  S.  Wales, 
and  Union,  all  having  suffered  to  some  extent. 

Mr.  D.  C.  M' Arthur  is  the  oldest  manager  in  the  colony  and 
is  a  general  favorite  with  all  with  whom  he  is  brought  in  con- 
tact. No  better  compliment  can  be  paid  to  his  financial  ability 
than  the  fact  of  his  having  been  selected  by  the  governor,  in 
connection  with  Mr.  Hart,  to  examine  into  and  report  upon  the 
finances  of  the  colony.  At  the  bank  he  is  the  stern  man  of  busi- 
ness, but  socially  is  a  Ion  vivant.  Some  years  ago  he  bought, 
at  a  nominal  price,  on  the  Heilderberg  road,  a  farm  of  some 
200  acres,  about  seven  miles  out  of  Melbourne.  The  broad 
acres  of  cultivated  land  must  be  of  great  value,  with  hay  and 
potatoes  at  ,£25  and  £30  per  ton.  The  garden  alone  covers 
eight  acres  of  the  choicest  fruits  and  vegetables,  and  is  filled  with 
ornamental  trees  and  flowers  from  other  lands.  If  he  would 
build  a  mansion  on  the  site  of  his  shooting-box,  it  would  be  in 
reality  the  residence  of  a  fine  old  English  gentleman.  Take 
Mr.  M' Arthur  from  the  bank,  and  I  fancy  it  would  be  difficult 
to  fill  his  place. 

The  tone  of  the  last  advices  from  England  and  America, 
leads  us  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that  you  have  at  last  given 
our  markets  a  recess.  Freight  at  40s  ! — and  so  few  ships  load- 
ing— good  !  Keep  on  for  three  months,  and  you  will  see  the 
Phoenix  come  out  of  his  ashes,  for  we  are  bound  to  go  a-head. 
The  finest  ships  that  the»world  has  produced,  will  proverbially 
visit  Hobson's  Bay,  and  we  shall  consume  annually  for  some 
years,  from  eight  to  ten  millions  of  imports  ;  while  we  shall  ex- 


V 

460  PKOSPECTS. 


port  from  twelve  to  fourteen  millions.  Here  then  is  the  mate- 
rial for  an  extensive  commerce  ;  and  while  others  may  write  to 
you  gloomily,  I  freely  give  you  my  impressions  that  this  country, 
this  colony,  the  grand  centre  of  all  the  rest,  is  bound  to  be  the 
great  emporium  of  the  Southern  Ocean  !  Melbourne  and  Hob- 
son's  Bay  are  now  united  by  rail,  and  the  Yarra  has  nearly  a 
mile  of  wharf  accommodation.  Our  progress  henceforth  will 
be  as  rapid  as  it  has  been — step  by  step  we  shall  build  a  city, 
not  even  second  to  Liverpool  or  New  York  !  only  don't  abuse 
us  now  for  not  consuming  all  you  have  been  pleased  to  send  us. 
The  place  must  ever  be  subject  to  rapid  changes.  In  this  re- 
spect it  is  not  different  from  other  nations — one  day  up  anoth- 
er down  :  yet  it  will  be  steadily  progressing  meanwhile.  Its 
march  will  ever  be  onwar.d.  I  know  of  no  deeper  question  to 
deal  with  than  the  equalization  of  property. 

Many  an  old  colonist  went  home  a  few  months  ago,  and 
thought  himself  a  millionaire,  who  when  he  returns,  will  be 
shorn  of  his  handsome  income,  by  the  depreciation  of  real  estate, 
the  fall  in  rents,  the  worthless  scrip  of  some  of  the  joint  stock 
companies  ;  but  the  greatest  good  will  be  received  by  the  great- 
est number. 

I  should  not  at  all  be  surprised  to  see  ships  go  down  with  yon 
in  the  same  ratio  as  rents  with  us.  I  cannot  think  that  gold 
countries,  the  Bast  Indies,  the  Chincas,  the  Eastern  war,  and 
the  North  Atlantic,  can  employ  the  shipping  profitably  that  has 
been  built  at  from  £12  to  £15  per  ton,  to  supply  the  tempora- 
ry demand.  Such  property  cannot  be  idle,  and  if  not  employed, 
down  they  must  come  in  price,  and  for  a  time  we  shall  see  your 
public  journals  showing  up  the  evils  of  the  credit  system,  caus- 
ing ruin  "and  disorder  when  the  bubble  breaks. 

The  war  in  the  East  is  playing  the  mischief  with  our  mails  ; 


RAILROAD    COLLISION.  461 


the  moment  a  boat  is  ready  she  is  chartered  for  troops.  We 
hear  that  the  British  government  don't  care  a  rap  about  the 
colonists,  and,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  mail  arrangements  which 
have  been  made,  there  is  some  truth  in  the  report.  China  can 
have  a  mail  once  a  fortnight,  we  get  it  once  in  two  months. 

We  have  had  our  first  railway  accident  in  Yictoria.  The 
engine,  with  a  full  train,  rather  inconveniently  run  into  a  cow 
going  towards  Sandridge,  killing  the  cow,  driving  the  engine 
off  the  track,  but  doing  no  serious  damage.  No  blame  attach- 
ed to  any  one,  especially  to  the  cow. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

MELBOURNE,  February  15,  1855. 

FOR  the  present  dark  cloud  of  rebellion  which  was  hanging 
over  the  colony  of  Victoria  when  I  wrote  you  last,  has  blown 
over,  and  quiet  reigns  throughout  the  gold  fields  ;  but  still 
water  runs  the  deepest ;  a  shadow  shows  the  quicksand.  The 
governor  is  more  and  more  unpopular.  He  knows  not  which 
way  to  turn — the  "  know  nothings  "  cause  him  no  little  annoy- 
ance. His  executive  have  given  him  little  assistance  ;  but  as 
much  as  can  be  expected  from  the  hangers  on  of  the  Latrobe 
dynasty.  The  trials  of  the  state  prisoners  has  been  again  post- 
poned, indefinitely,  and  the  poor  devils  don't  know  whether 
they  are  to  remain  "  in  choky  "  the  remainder  of  their  natural 
existence,  or  be  "  strung  up  "  when  his  excellency  says  the  word, 
after  the  jury  and  the  judge  have  done  their  duty.  We  all  wait 
for  the  new  constitution,  when  new  talent  will  be  infused  into 
the  legislative  chambers.  We  need  expect  nothing  remarkably 
brilliant  till  then.  The  chamber  of  commerce  have  become  an 
important  and  influential  body,  and  deal  with  every  question  of 
public  import.  On  Monday  they  discuss  the  land  question  with 
a  view  of  opening  them,  and  that  speedily.  I  think  the  move- 
ment will  become  a  political  one  before  it  has  been  shelved. 
Open  the  lands,  and  the  country  will  bound  ahead  as  rapidly  as 
California.  The  soil,  the  climate,  the  market  and  the  capital 
are  all  here  to  embark  in  agricultural  pursuits  the  moment  the 
path  is  clear.  All  vegetables  and  fruits  and  breadstuffs  are 

*  * 
.  J^ 


TELEGRAPH. 


463 


fearfully  high.  Flour  is  selling  at  £48  per  tou,  and  only  800 
to  1200  tons  in  the  place  !  and  none  expected  from  the  States  ; 
we  look  to  the  west  coast  for  a  supply.  With  the  exception  of 
the  above,  living  is  as  cheap  here  now  as  in  many  older  places. 
Rents,  wood  and  water  and  all  articles  save  provisions  are  plen- 
tiful, and  at  last  comfort  can  be  had  in  Australia  for  a  reason- 
able price.  Competition  has  given  us  many  things  we  used  to 
dream  of,  but  never  saw.  Our  streets  are  splendidly  macadam- 
ized, the  sidewalks  paved,  and  the  gutters  metaled.  Water- 
works will  soon  be  finished,  and  gas  light  is  near  at  hand.  Tie 
railway  is  a  great  facility  ;  small  vessels  are  daily  being  dis- 
charged at  the  jetty  ;  the  company  clear  some  £800  per  week 
over  all  expenses,  which  looks  well  ;  but  the  road  has  been 
frightfully  mangled  ;  just  think  of  $500,000  per  mile,  or  $1000, 
000  to  run  a  rail  to  Hobson's  Bay  from  Melbourne  !  It  seems 
absolutely  outrageous,  but  such  has  been  the  waste  of  money. 
The  land  was  free  and  no  taxes  on  the  property,  and  yet  this 
outlay  ! 

At  last  we  have  a  magnetic  line  to  the  Heads,  the  fruit  of  an 
American.  The  first  news  that  came  up  was  the  battle  of 
Inkermann,  brought  by  the  White  Star  line  clipper  Shalimar, 
last  week,  with  a  rapid  passage  and  eleven  days  later  dates. 
The  newsboys  were  in  every  street  with  their  extras.  It  re- 
minded me  of  State  street  at  the  time  of  the  Mexican  war. 
Later  intelligence  is  looked  for  with  the  most  intense  anxiety. 
No  one  can  predict  where  the  dispute  will  end.  Thus  far  this 
country  has  not  been  effected,  either  pro  or  con. 

Hardly  had  the  Shalimar's  news  been  digested  when  the  town 
was  fairly  thrown  on  its  beam  ends  by  the  startling  announce- 
ment that  the  James  Baines  had  arrived  from  Liverpool  with 
the  December  mails,  after  the  astonishing  and  unprecedented 


464  CUPPERS. 

run  of  sixty-Jive  days  I  Can  any  one  now  doubt  Donald  Me 
Kay's  supremacy  upon  the  ocean  ?  I  fancy  not,  for  the  log 
records  of  the  Flying  Cloud,  the  Lightning,  hence  to  Liverpool 
in  63  days,  and  now  the  Baines  out  here  in  65,  will  very  quickly 
settle  the  question.  The  passages  are  truly  wonderful,  and  I 
maintain  that  Donald  McKay  has  done  more  to  advance  the 
science  of  ship  building  than  any  other  man.  He  stands  the 
victor,  and  is  always  first  in  the  clipper  race  ground.  Clipper 
ships  may  depreciate,  and  overtrading  in  such  property  may 
prove  disastrous  ;  but  the  genius  of  the  mechanic  and  the 
boldness  of  the  man  who  has  launched  such  a  leviathan  as  the 
Great  Republic  will  live  so  long  as  great  deeds  continue  to  be 
recorded. 

There  are  but  two  regular  lines  of  packets  from  England  to 
this  port,  the  "  White  Star  "  and  the  "  Black  Ball"— both  of 
which  possess  a  fleet  of  ships  unequaled  on  the  ocean.  To  these 
vessels  we  must  now  look  for  our  mails,  for  as  I  predicted  in  a 
letter  to  you  six  months  ago,  the  war  has  drained  off  all  our 
steamers,  not  one  boat  has  been  left ;  and  unless  you  mail  via 
Panama,  or  we  start  a  colonial  line  from  Melbourne  to  Galle  or 
Suez,  to  catch  the  overland  mail,  we  are  entirely  adrift.  Peace 
would  give  us  a  half-dozen  lines  ;  but  as  it  is,  everything  in  the 
steam  way  heads  towards  the  seat  of  war.  And  this  young 
colony,  so  great  in  its  mineral  resources,  is  left  uncared  for—- 
forgotten. Perhaps  a  few  more  lives  shed  at  Balaarat  may 
wake  them  up  in  England. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

HOBART  TOWN,  August  1st,  1855,  ) 
TASMANIA,  (no  longer  Van  Diemen's  Land,)  BROADLAND  HOUSE.  ) 

MY  DEAR  COL. — Don't  be  surprised  at  finding  me  at  this 
"jumping  off  place,"  on  the  earth's  surface  for  I  have  always 
been  a  bird  of  passage — here  to-day — and  there  to-morrow — 
and  why  shouldn't  I  visit  the  garden  Island  of  the  Australia's  ? 
More  than  two  years  in  the  seas  of  the  South,  and  never  before 
across  the  straits  that  proudly  wear  the  name  of  their  dis- 
coverer— Bass — the  Surgeon  navigator  of  1796 — and  Flinder, 
his  companion — in  that  eventful  voyage  on  board  the  little 
"  Tom  Thumb,"  a  boat  of  eight  feet  long.  These  companions 
of  Gook  were  brave  and  hardy  men  ;  for  the  long  range  of 
unknown  coast  seemed  one  continuous  reef  of  treacherous  rocks 
and  bidden  shoals  ;  a  half  a  century  since,  and  the  savage  tribes 
of  natives  were  always  hovering  near  when  these  bold  naviga- 
tors neared  the  shore.  Some  months  ago  I  gave  you  a  glance 
at  Sydney,  and  from  the  gold  fields,  from  Geelong,  and  often 
from  Melbourne,  the  grand  centre  of  all  the  Colonies  ;  you 
have  had  a  letter  for  the  Post,  and  as  my  time  suits  the  incli- 
nation I  will  show  you  and  my  friends  at  home  Yan  Diemen's 
Land,  as  it  appeared  to  Jonathan  abroad. 

Forty-two  hours  steaming  under  a  liberal  spread  of  canvass 
brought  the  fine  propeller  "  City  of  Hobart,"  to  her  wharf  in 
the  Derwent — a  good  passage  and  a  pleasant  trip.  This 


466  THE   DERWENT. 


steamer  runs  to  Melbourne,  and  her  sister  boat  the  Tasmania, 
plies  to  Sydney,  both  owned  in  this  port,  bat  I  fear  are  losing 
money  for  the  proprietors.  However,  they  are  a  great  facility 
to  the  business  of  the  place,  and  pleasure  seekers  would  find  a 
sailing  schooner  most  objectionable.  Already  I  am  repaid  for 
the  journey,  for  to  tell  the  truth  I  am  delighted  with  the  place  ; 
everything  I  see  about  and  around  me  reminds  me  of  my  life 
in  England.  The  noble  river  is  not  ashamed  to  look  the  Hud- 
son in  the  face,  for  the  scenery  on  every  side  is  grand  and  pictu- 
resque ;  Mount  Wellington  towers  four  thousand  feet  above 
the  township  in  the  valley — Lord  Hobart's  namesake,  and  the 
cap  of  the  mountain  is  as  white  with  snow  as  a  New  England 
hill  top  in  mid  winter.  'Tis  a  noble  roadstead — would  that 
Melbourne  had  so  fine  a  port,  for  the  Derwent  can  find  accom- 
modation for  the  entire  British  Navy  in  its  protecting  bosom  ; 
ships  of  any  tonnage  ride  at  perfect  safety  along  side  the  wharves, 
which  show  the  handiwork  of  Sir  Wm.  Dennison,  and  such  an 
event  as  an  accident  is  hardly  in  the  memory  of  the  oldest  inha- 
bitant. 

A  week  has  gone  like  magic — roaming  about  this  beautiful 
spot,  and  I  bear  away  with  me  most  pleasing  impressions  of 
the  beautiful  river,  the  substantial  wharves,  the  lofty  and  majes- 
tic banks,  and  towering  mountain  scenery  ;  the  pleasant  ride 
with  Mr.  McPherson,  (the  successor  of  Mr.  Hathaway,  late  U. 
S.  Consul  here,  now  residing  in  the  States,)  along  the  sandy 
beach  road,  and  the  lunch  at  the  mess-room  of  the  99th  with 
Captain  Munn  and  his  brother  officers,  all  jolly  boys,  ready  for 
a  song,  a  story  and  a  laugh  ;  they  are  proud  of  their  regiment 
and  well  they  may  be,  for  it  numbers  all  told  twelve  hundred  as 
strong  and  hearty  a  body  of  men  as  ever  wore  the  uniform. 
Col.  Last  told  me  that  they  had  now  laid  some  thirteen  years 


THE    ARMY.  467 

in  the  Colonies,  when  they  came  out  for  only  three  or  four  ; 
many  of  the  officers  are  married  to  the  handsome  girls  who 
were  born  in  the  Island,  and  never  have  been  abroad,  and  if 
the  regiment  remains  here  much  longer,  Tasmania  will  prove  the 
mother  country  to  at  least  one  regiment  of  Her  Majesty's  In- 
fant-rj,  (no^pun-ish-ment !)  if  I  am  permitted  to  judge  from 
the  legion  of  bare  legged — red  faced — hearty  looking  little  red 
coats  that  completely  macadamized  the  review  ground  ;  it  was 
quite  a  treat  to  go  through  the  officers  apartments,  the  prison, 
and  the  place  where  the  prisoners  (mostly  those  who  have  been 
drunk  or  deserted,)  are  initiated  into  the  science  of  breaking 
stone,  or  the  more  violent  exercise  of  the  "shot  drill  ;"  the 
barracks  and  the  school-house,  the  cantonment  and  the  chapel, 
the  stables,  the  magazine,  the  hospital,  the  mechanics  shops,  all 
arranged  with  such  precision,  in  true  army  style.  Discipline  is 
the  order  of  the  day,  and  if  the  army  in  the  east  is  composed 
of  many  such  regiments  as  this,  success  is  certain  to  the  allied 
powers.  The  Commissariat  Department  would  even  please  the 
Times !  and  the  cleanliness  and  neatness  in  the  barracks,  where 
the  soldiers  cook,  eat,  sleep  and  dress  all  in  one  apartment,  show 
them  to  be  capital  house-wives 

Orders  have  come  out  for  the  regiment  to  get  under  way  for 
the  Crimea,  and  all  except  the  married  ones  are  glad  of  it,  for 
thirteen  years  is  a  long  time  to  serve  without  promotion  ;  the 
40th  will  relieve  them.  From  the  barracks  I  went  to  the  Botan- 
ical gardens,  which  speaks  volumes  for  the  taste  of  the  Hobart- 
tonians,  and  the  view  from  the  new  site  for  Government  House 
is  grand  beyond  description  ;  the  Derwent  and  its  scenery  ex- 
tending for  miles,  and  the  pretty  English  township  adding  its 
many  beauties  to  the  picture.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  coun- 
try seats  is  that  of  Mr.  Chapman  the  city  representative  in  the 


468  TASMANIAN    LEGISLATION. 


Council,  and  certainly  it  is  a  beautiful  place,  and  reminds  me 
of  the  residences  about  the  Cumberland  lakes  in  England. 

Through  the  politeness  of  Captain  Fenton,  the  speaker  of 
the  Assembly,  I  had  a  good  opportunity  of  seeing  something 
of  Tasmanian  legislation,  and  most  favorably  does  it  compare 
with  its  sister  colony  Victoria.  The  strictly  Parliamentary  forms 
are  observed  in  debate,  and  some  of  the  speakers  show  a  culti- 
vated statesmanship.  The  new  Constitution  has  just  arrived, 
and  the  country  is  rejoicing  far  and  wide  to  get  at  last  what 
they  had  so  long  fought  for,  responsible  government.  In  three 
months  time  the  new  Congress  will  be  in  full  operation. 

Briefly — the  Government  will  be  carried  on  by  the  Governor 
and  two  Houses,  called  the  "Legislative  Council"  and  "  House 
of  Assembly  ; "  the  upper  House  consisting  of  fifteen  members, 
(the  franchise  being  for  £50  freeholders,  officers  of  the  army  or 
navy,  retired  or  otherwise,  and  professional  gentlemen.)  The 
lower  House  to  have  thirty  members  (freeholders  of  £10,  and 
any  one  possessing  £100  has  the  privilege  of  voting  for  a 
member  of  assembly.)  Electoral  districts  will  be  immediately 
established  by  the  Governor  and  the  present  Council,  and  in  a 
short  time  Van  Diemen's  Land  will  govern  itself ;  the  only  con- 
necting link  to  Great  Britain  being  His  Excellency  and  the 
forces  stationed  here.  The  people  are  as  loyal  as  the  British 
ministry,  a  proof  of  which  may  be  seen  in  their  subscribing 
dE25,000,  ($125,000,)  for  the  army  sufferers  ;  all  of  which  has 
been  remitted  to  England.  To-morrow  morning  I  leave  for  Laun- 
ceston  by  the  celebrated  convict  road,  and  anticipate  an  exhilara- 
ting ride  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  directly  through  the 
Island,  by  the  regular  old  fashioned  mail  coach,  which  in  older 
countries  the  steam  whistle  has  crowded  off  the  course.  The 
few  days  passed  on  the  banks  of  the  Derwent  I  shall  long  re- 


ADIEU    TO   HOBART   TOWN. 


469 


member,  and  never  will  I  again  allow  myself  to  be  prejudiced 
against  a  place  'till  I  have  visited  it.  The  people  are  most 
hospitable,  and  when  you  are  asked  at  the  social  board,  it  is 
not  to  make  two-and  sixpence  out  of  you  in  the  way  of  com- 
mission I 

A  large  business  is  done  in  a  very  quiet  way,  and  most  of 
the  old  merchants  stand  A — 1,  in  all  the  Colonies  ;  contented 
with  a  regular  trade,  they  have  escaped  the  speculating  losses 
which  the  gold  fields  entailed  upon  their  neighbors,  and  no  panic 
has  visited  the  land  since  1842. 

Sir  Henry  Young  (who  succeeds  Sir  William  Dennison  since 
he  was  called  to  take  the  Government  Generalship  at  Sydney,) 
seems  inclined  to  meet  the  wishes  of  his  people.  He  has  only 
been  down  some  three  months  from  South  Australia  where  he 
was  generally  liked.  I  passed  a  most  pleasant  evening  at  his 
house  on  Thursday,  some  one  hundred  guests  were  present,  and 
between  dancing,  interspersed  with  music  both  vocal  and  instru- 
mental, the  hours  passed  rapidly  away.  Lady  Young  plays  the 
hostess,  and  does  the  honors  of  Government  House  to  perfec- 
tion ;  possessing  the  happy  faculty  of  making  all  enjoy  the 
entertainment.  I  should  think  the  Governor  some  forty  years 
of  age,  and  her  Ladyship  some  ten  years  his  junior.  He  seems 
proud  of  his  beautiful  wife  and  well  he  may  be,  for  she  is  a  most 
distingue  looking  lady. 

From  the  other  side  of  the  Island  you  will  get  a  postscript, 
for  I  am  away  at  six  in  the  morning  ;  so  good  bye  and  a  kind 
remembrance  to  Hobart  town. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

4 

LAUNCESTON,  TASMANIA,  August  4th,  1855,  | 
AT  THE  CLUB  Hoi  EL,      ) 

As  promised  I  add  another  page,  but  I  shall  make  it  short, 
for  I  am  late  for  the  mail. 

Twelve  changes,  brought  the  mail  coach  into  town  all  trim 
and  right  in  twelve  hour's  time.  I  had  somewhat  anticipated 
the  trip,  but  I  experienced  all  the  pleasure  I  expected.  The 
coaching  is  peculiarly  national,  and  you  must  go  to  the  north 
of  Scotland  to  get  out  of  the  whistle  of  the  locomotive,  for  the 
mail  coach  is  no  longer  seen  in  England. 

The  guard  with  his  bugle,  picking  up  the  inland  mail  bags 
from  off  a  forked  pole,  and  the  consequential  bearing  of  the 
coachman  as  he  cracks  his  long  whip  over  the  galloping  leaders 
as  they  plough  along  up  hill  usually  at  their  utmost  speed,  while 
he  points  out  some  gentleman's  residence  in  the  distance,  is  as 
much  a  part  of  England  as  the  jolly  red  faced  driver  in  his  buff 
coat,  is  himself.  The  road  all  the  way  is  the  result  of  convict 
labor,  and  is  macadamized  the  entire  distance  ;  individual  enter- 
prise never  would  have  accomplished  such  an  undertaking  with- 
out ruinous  loss.  It  would  have  cost  millions  sterling,  and 
those  who  have  most  abused  the  convicts,  must  admit  that  their 
labor  has  done  for  the  colony  what  nothing  else  would  have 
accomplished  ;  but  the  time  had  come  to  bring  about  a  change, 
and  now  the  land  is  free  from  the  curse  of  new  arrivals,  although 
some  ten  thousand  of  the  old  prisoners  are  still  on  the  Island  ; 


CITY    NOMENCLATURE.  471 


the  country  villages  along  the  road,  and  in  the  valleys,  over- 
hung by  woody  mountains  make  the  ride  most  attractive.  Many 
of  the  buildings  are  built  of  stone,  and  the  Hotels  are  orna- 
ments to  every  township. 

Most  of  the  fences  are  the  common  wood  rail  and  post ;  four 
rails,  the  lower  one  on  the  ground  to  prevent  the  sheep  from 
getting  under  ;  the  villages  bear  scriptural  and  ancient  names, 
it  is  said  that  the  cause  arose  from  one  of  the  early  Bushrang- 
ers having  an  extensive  library  consisting  of  several  leaves  of 
the  Old  Testament,  from  which  the  several  names  were  selected, 
hence  Jerusalems,  Jerichos,  and  Bagdads  are  scattered  over 
the  entire  country  ;  'tis  too  bad,  when  many  of  the  native 
names  would  have  given  a  pleasant  ring  to  the  little  towns. 
The  cultivation  speaks  care  and  good  farming,  and  the  wheat, 
corn,  and  barley  for  miles  show  what  the  country  can  do. 
Many  of  the  farmers  are  using  guano,  and  it  pays  them  ten- 
fold. After  finishing  my  journey  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
Dr.  Crook's  railway  scheme  would  fall  through,  for  I  doubt  if 
Launceston  and  Hobart  Town  are  connected  by  a  railroad  during 
the  next  fifty  years,  unless  gold  is  found  in  quantities  on  the 
Island,  a  mail  coach  once  a  day  each  way  will  do  all  that  is 
required.  £3000  for  the  mail,  and  five  times  that  for  passenger 
traffic  would  not  leave  half  per  cent  on  the  outlay  for  a  rail, 
and  save  the  farmers  getting  their  crops  to  market,  they  have 
no  other  source  for  a  dividend. 

Launcestou  is  a  very  quiet  place  situated  about  forty  miles 
from  the  sea,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tamor.  Hobart  Town  being 
the  capital  is  much  the  more  attractive.  I  notice  as  is  always' 
the  case  with  smaller  towns,  a  jealousy  between  the  places,  all 
however  one-sided.  I  was  much  amused,  and  yet  it  was  a  pain- 
ful sight,  to  see  the  convicts  some  thirty  at  a  time  on  a  tread 


472  CONVICT   TREAD    MILL. 


mill  similar  to  those  at  railway  depots  in  America,  used  for 
sawing  wood  by  horse  power.  It  is  really  somethiug  new 
to  see  human  beings  in  the  same  predicament,  but  the  idea  is 
not  a  bad  one,  for  in  this  way  the  convicts  are  made  to  earn 
their  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their  brow.  They  grind  about 
thirty  bushels  of  wheat  a  day.  Should  they  happen  to  stop 
their  continual  tramp,  down  they  would  fall  by  the  run,  with  a 
chance  of  having  a  broken  leg  ;  severe  is  the  punishment,  but 
I  am  told  it  works  effectually  ;  the  place  was  neat  and  tidy — 
the  convicts  dressed  in  gray,  and  looking  in  good  condition,  con- 
sidering the  soup  which  I  saw  them  eating.  Looking  at  a 
chicken  or  a  piece  of  roast  beef  through  a  cage,  I  should  sup- 
pose would  give  more  nourishment  to  them,  but  nevertheless 
they  seem  to  live  and  thrive  ! 

The  Botanical  gardens  here  are  far  inferior  to  those  on  the 
other  side,  but  the  people  are  equally  kind  and  hospitable. 
They  do  every  thing  in  their  power  to  make  one  feel  at  home, 
and  they  understand  well  how  to  do  it. 

The  Royal  Shepherd  heads  for  Port  Philip  on  Wednesday, 
and  twenty-five  hours'  steaming  I  am  told  will  take  me  over — 
but  the  very  thought  of  a  screw  steamship  in  a  short  sea  gives 
me  a  sickening  nausea,  and  already  I  see  my  head  over  the  rail 
— (ascertaining  of  course,  how  fast  she  is  going.) 

To  sum  up  in  a  few  words  my  ten  days'  sojourn  in  the  land 
first  seen  by  Abel  Tasman  two  centuries  ago,  and  peopled  by  a 
race  now  almost  distinct,  the  few  remaining  having  been  sent 
to  Flinder's  Island  ;  a  race  though  Australian,  who  never  saw 
a  Boomerang  !  and  could  not  even  make  a  canoe  to  take  them 
across  the  straits,  more  shiftless  even  than  the  miserable  spindle 
shanked  wretches  that  disease  is  fast  removing  from  the  Port 
Philip  districts. 


CLEARANCE    PERMIT.  473 


How  strange  it  is  that  disease  and  dissipation  sweep  away 
most  native  tribes  in  all  lands,  as  scon  as  the  missionary,  and 
the  white  man  have  got  them  thoroughly  civilized  and  christian- 
ized !  Tasmania  with  her  80,000  inhabitants,  may  sometime 
boast  Water  Go's,  and  Gas  Go's,  in  her  two  large  cities,  and 
possible  a  telegraph  may  one  of  these  days  connect  her  with 
her  sister  colonies  ;  but  I  fear  the  time  is  far  distant  when  she 
will  see  a  railroad. 

New  South  Wales  will  supply  the  coal,  South  Australia  the' 
copper,  Victoria  the  gold,  while  Tasmania  will  be  the  granary 
of  them  all  ;  for  she  can  well  supply  them  with  the  staff  of 
life — now  the  convict  curse  is  dying  away. 

"  No  more  shall  the  festering  prison  bark 

Bring  hither  its  cargo  of  strife; 
But  every  ship  as  the  olden  ark, 
Shall  pour  forth  love  and  life." 

Even  on  my  departure  I  am  reminded  of  the  peculiar  insti- 
tution, for  even  correspondents  were  obliged  to  get  a  paper, 
which  for  your  amusement  I  copy  verbatum. 

V.  D.  L. 

POLICE  OFFICE,          ^.J^^^^^,        LAUNCESTON, 
No.  957.  es^BlllsSS^S          *lth  August,  1855. 

The  undersigned  Person  has  permission  to  depart 
from  the  colony  on  board  the  Royal  Shepherd — 

for  Melbourne. 
Name,— G.  F.  T. 

Ship  to  the  Colony, 

"  City  of  Hobart." 

No.  74,  (Signed,)  W.  GUNN, 

Clearance.  Permit.  Police  Magistrate. 


474  THE   GREAT    PRISON    HOUSE. 


I  didn't  care  so  much  about  paying  five  shillings  for  a  clean 
ticket  of  leave,  but  it  was  the  suspicious  manner  in  which  the 
official  examined  me  ;  for  Dido,  the  companion  of  Whelan,  be 
it  remembered  was  at  large,  and  £500  had  been  offered  reward. 
This  man  Whelan  was  the  monster  who  killed  at  intervals  dur- 
ing a  fortnight,  six  individuals — the  most  brutal  murders  in  the 
annals  of  the  settlement,  and  that  was  only  a  few  weeks  ago. 
With  the  exception  of  taking  the  chances  of  being  popped  off 
while  walking  home  at  night  by  some  of  these  damnable  scamps. 
I  have  no  reason  to  speak  in  anything  but  praiseworthy  terms 
of  what  a  short  time  since  was,  the  great  Prison  House  for 
British  criminals. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Report  of  Mr.  Train's  remark  in  favor  of  the  Panama  route,  from  tJie 
Melbourne  paper  of  September  24,  1853. 

"MELBOUENE,  September,  24th  1855. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN. — When  the  able  paper  on  our  mail  communi- 
cation, which  you  brought  before  the  board  last  week,  was 
under  discussion,  I  gave  notice  that  I  should  have  a  few  words 
to  say  in  reproducing  a  few  facts  in  regard  to  the  Panama 
route  to-day  ;  so,  without  occupying  your  time  in  arguing 
against  that  paper  on  some  points  where  we  widely  differ  (as 
all  information  on  this  important  question  is  valuable),  I  pro- 
pose to  run  my  eye  over  a  route  which  does  not  seem  to  have 
received  that  attention  from  this  Chamber  which  its  merits  de- 
mand. 

For  two  years  this  Chamber  has  been  rolling  the  ball  on  the 
mail  question,  and  for  two  years  nothing  whatever  has  been  ac- 
complished. 

The  Committee  and  the  Chamber  have  shown  a  praiseworthy 
desire  in  gathering  statistics  of  the  several  routes  ;  and  letters, 
and  speeches,  reports  and  pamphlets  innumerable  have  flooded 
the  Post-office  and  the  press,  and  yet  we  are  no  better  off  than 
when  the  subject  was  first  introduced  !  All  the  steam  mail  lines 
retired  from  the  field  the  moment  they  could  obtain  remunerative 


416 


STEAM    MAIL   LINES. 


employment  in  transporting  troops  for  the  Home  Government  ; 
and  as  I  have  always  said,  when  addressing  the  Chamber — tht 
resumption  of  a  steam  mail  depends  entirely  upon  the  turn  of  the, 
Eastern  War  ! 

English  companies  are  not  enclined  to  embark  their  Capital  in 
an  enterprise  that  has  paid  them  so  poorly,  and  the  uncertainty 
existing  in  the  affairs  of  Europe  completely  paralyzes  all  enter- 
prise on  the  ocean  with  the  Americans  ;  and  as  for  the  colonists 
doing  anything  for  themselves  little  else  than  talk,  it  has  yet  to 
take  place  1  Hence,  I  repeat,  that  a  resumption  of  steam  mail 
service  under  Government  depends  upon  the  return  of  peace. 

But  as  the  object  in  bringing  forward  the  paper  last  week, 
was  intended  to  gather  as  much  information  as  possible  prepa- 
ratory to  the  action  of  the  Council  ;  and  as  that  paper  did  not 
give  that  prominence  to  the  Panama  route  that  it  deserves,  per- 
mit me  again  to  give  you  my  views  in  regard  to  it. 

I  believe  the  Panama  route  the  most  feasible  mail  route  be- 
tween England  and  Australia  ;  and,  in  case  of  a  subsidy  by 
either  Government,  it  would  seem  to  be  no  more  than  fair  that 
that  route  should  have  a  decided  preference. 

Whilst  advocating  this  route  I  am  aware  that  the  Chamber 
is  already  pledged  to  a  particular  course  in  their  memorial  to 
Sir  Charles  Hotham,  the  Admiralty  and  Postmaster  General, 
which  recommended  no  particular  route,  only  to  throw  open 
the  contract  to  public  competition. 

All  other  routes  have  been  tried,  and  failed. — The  Australian 
Royal  Mail  Steam  Navigation  Company,  (more  commonly 
known  as  the  "  Boomerang "  Line,  from  their  steamers  resem- 
bling that  missile  in  starting  off  and  finally  returning  to  the 
point  of  departure)  have  tried  the  Cape  route  with  the  Austra- 
lian, Melbourne,  Adelaide  and  Sydney.  The  repeated  failures 


OVERLAND   ROUTE.  477 


of  these  boats  lost  tbe  directors  their  contract.  The  stoppages 
on  the  way  were  objectionable,  it  was  said  ;  and  the  high  seas 
and  boisterous  weather  for  three-fourths  of  the  year  between  the 
Cape  and  Australia,  on  their  return,  are  sure  to  retard  the 
steamers.  I  think  however  it  will  be  done  in  ,sixty  days.  The 
Golden  Age  was  a  powerful  paddle  wheel  boat,  and  fairly  tested 
what  could  be  accomplished,  for  she  had  a  most  favorable  chance 
all  the  way.  This  route,  then,  for  the  present,  until  Scott  Rus- 
sell tries  it  again  in  the  monster  steam-ship  now  building,  is 
abandoned  :  and  the  most  important  objection  to  the  Overland 
and  Indian  route  is  it  will  not  pay  ! 

That  is  the  point,  they  have  tried  it,  and  lost  money ;  and 
unless  receiving  a  very  handsome  subsidy,  it  is  not  to  be 
expected  that  they  will  try  it  again.  When  dipper  ships  take 
gold  at  3d  per  oz.  (less  than  one-half  per  cent  ),  and  cargo  at  40s. 
per  ton,  it  is  hardly  to  be  supposed  that  either  gold  or  cargo 
will  be  sent  at  thejr  prices, — £18  per  ton  for  the  one,  and  three 
per  cent,  for  the  other. 

And  so  for  passengers.  Single  gentlemen  desirous  of  travel 
may  be  willing  to  pay  £160,  and  put  up  with  many  changes  on 
the  route  ;  but  we  need  not  reasonably  expect  that  families  will 
select  so  expensive,  inconvenient,  and  uncomfortable  a  journey, 
to  say  nothing  of  second  class  passengers  being  entirely  shut 
out,  when  a  ship  offers  them  every  accommodation  and  comfort 
for  sixty-five  guineas  !  of  course,  then,  nothing  but  a  heavy  bonus 
from  Government,  over  and  above  all  present  rates  of  Postage, 
will  give  you  that  route,  however  desirable  it  may  be.  Now 
we  come  to  what  I  have  always  maintained  is  the  most  prac- 
ticable of  all,  the  Panama  route.  Two  years  since  the  English 
and  Australian  papers  could  not  say  too  much  in  favor  of  it. 
When  the  advertisement  of  the  Australian  Direct  Steam  Navi- 


478  PANAMA    ROUTE. 


gallon  Company,  via  Panama,  was  announced  in  1853,  the  pa- 
pers of  July  and  August  all  advocated  this  route — all  the  argu- 
ments in  its  favor  were  advanced  then,  and  they  could  not  say 
too  much  in  bringing  it  before  the  public  ;  so  was  it  with  the 
papers  here  and  in  Sydney,  long  editorials  daily  appearing  show- 
ing its  advantages. 

Mr.  Donaldson  of  the  Sydney  council,  in  1852,  was  strongly 
in  favor  of  Panama,  and  brought  up  statistics  to  show  that  the 
course  of  post  by  that  way  would  not  exceed  120  days. 

The  Times  and  other  English  journals  used  something  like  the 
following  language  : — 

"  Throughout  the  entire  range  of  this  route  across  the  vast 
Pacific  Ocean,  both  going  and  returning  between  Panama  and 
Australia,  fine  weather,  smooth  seas,  and  a  pleasant  tempera- 
ture almost  everywhere  prevail ;  and  the  trade  winds,  generally 
speaking,  blow  with  such  gentle  force  and  constant  regularity, 
that  the  seaman  can  shape  his  course  from  port  to  port  with 
certainty  and  confidence." 

Hargreaves,  who  was  a  passenger  by  the  Golden  Age,  in  a 
letter  to  the  Times,  July  20th,  gives  a  good  description  of  the 
voyage,  which  was  made  in  thirty-two  days'  steaming  from  Syd- 
ney to  Panama.  He  calls  it,  speaking  from  experience,  the 
shortest,  the  pleasantest,  and  the  most  direct  route  between 
England  and  Australia.  He  considers  the  consumption  of  fuel 
and  expense  of  large  paddle-wheel  steamers  like  the  Goldeu 
Age,  the  principal  objection.  (This  expense,  under  proper  or- 
ganization, could  be  materially  reduced.)  Those  few  who  made 
the  least  objection  to  this  route  two  years  ago,  did  so  on  account 
of  the  transit  across  the  Isthmus  :  now,  however,  that  bugbear 
has  gone,  and  the  traveler  is  no  longer  dependent  upon  mule 
carriage  ;  the  steamer  runs  alongside  the  railway  pier  at  Pana- 


ESTIMATED    PASSAGE.  479 


ma,  and  in  less  than  two  hours'  ride  in  large  and  comfortable 
carriages  over  one  of  the  safest  railroads  in  the  world,  they  step 
out  of  the  cars  into  the  steamship  that  is  in  waiting  on  the 
Atlantic  side. 

Panama  seems  to  be  the  point  to  connect  all  parts  of  the 
world,  some  dozen  steam  lines  centre  there,  and  now  the  rail- 
road is  entirely  finished,  and  comfortable  hotels  are  open  to  the 
stranger  on  both  sides  of  the  Isthmus,  no  better  time  than  the 
present  offers,  to  add  one  more  link  to  the  great  steam  chain  by  a 
monthly  connection  with  Australia.  Mr.  Williams,  the  United 
States  Consul  at  Sydney,  in  reply  to  the  questions  of  the  Select 
Committee  of  the  Legislative  Council,  recapitulated  the  advan- 
tages of  this  route  over  any  other,  as  represented  to  the  author- 
ities of  Great  Britain  by  Captain  Porter,  of  the  Golden  Age. 
He  goes  on  to  explain  the  manner  of  communicating  with  Pana- 
ma, "  leaving  the  existing  line  from  Southampton  to  take  the 
mails  to  and  from  Panama. 

"  Captain  Porter  proposed  to  have  two  steamers  between 
Sydney  and  Tahiti,  and  two  between  Tahiti  and  Panama.  He 
proposed  that  the  steamer  from  Sydney  and  that  from  Panama 
shall  start  on  the  same  day.  His  estimated  time  from  Sydney 
to  Tahiti  was  thirteen  days,  and  from  Panama  to  Tahiti  eight- 
een days  ;  the  Sydney  boat,  on  her  arrival  at  Tahiti,  to  trans- 
fer our  passengers  to  a  spare  boat,  waiting  ready  coaled,  to  pro- 
ceed to  Panama  on  the  same  day,  which  would  then  give  the 
Sydney  boat  five  days  to  coal,  previous  to  the  arrival  of  the 
boat  from  Panama,  when  she  would  be  ready  to  take  the  Pana- 
ma passengers,  to  proceed  to  Sydney  on  the  same  day  as  the 
arrival  of  the  Panama  steamer.  This  would  make  thirty-one 
days  from  Sydney  to  Panama.  It  was  proposed  to  have  at 
Tahiti  workshops,  docks,  and  everything  requisite  for  making 


480  COST    OF   TRIP. 


repairs  to  the  vessels  and  boats,  and  for  carrying  on  such  an 
establishment  effectively.  Captain  Porter  said  that  steamers 
running  a  short  distance  on  a  Hue  have  much  greater  speed  than 
those  running  longer  distances,  and  therefore  they  would  be 
much  more  likely  to  accomplish  their  passage  in  a  given  time, 
and  in  less  time  than  steamers  from  here  through." 

Mr.  Williams,  laid  before  the  committee  letters  bearing  upon 
the  subject ;  the  substance  I  embody  in  the  following  extract 
from  the  Sydney  Morning  Herald  : — 

"  The  Isthmus  is  now  daily  crossed  in  two  hours,  from  Aspin- 
wall  to  Panama.  Since  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California, 
there  has  never  been  a  loss  of  treasure  in  crossing  the  Isthmus. 
The  time  from  Southampton  to  Aspinwall,  now  twenty  days, 
might  be  reduced  to  twelve  ;  and  he  would  guarantee  to  build 
a  line  of  boats  which  would  reduce  it  to  fifteen,  and  the  time 
from  Aspinwall  to  New  York  eight  days,  and  the  average 
length  of  the  voyage,  not  touching  at  New  Zealand,  forty- 
one  days.  He  would  have  steamers  built,  with  a  guaranteed 
speed  of  fifteen  knots,  which  would  give  thirty-four  days'  sailing 
time,  allowing  twelve  thousand  some  hundred  miles  as  the  dis- 
tance, and  allow  seven  days  for  changing  the  steamers  and  for 
interruptions  from  bad  weather.  The  projector  was  willing  to 
enter  into  a  contract  to  perform  the  passage  from  Aspinwall  to 
Melbourne  in  37  days,  making  Sydney  the  first  port ;  so  that 
his  contract  would  bring  us  three  days  earlier,  that  would  be 
thirty-four  days.  He  would^place  the  boats  at  the  disposal  of 
the  colouial  government,  in  case  of  war,  at  a  valuation.  His 
proposal  to  the  Postmaster  General  was  £3,500  a  trip  from 
Panama  to  Melbourne,  touching  at  Sydney,  and  giving  to  the 
British  Post  Office  the  advantage  of  all  other  mails  he  might 
carry,  except  that  to  Tahiti,  which  he  would  carry  free  of  charge. 


ADVANTAGE    OF   ISTHMUS    ROUTE.  481 


What  he  said  as  to  terms  was  this :  '  I  will  have,  when  the  line  is 
completed,  not  less  than  four  first  class  steamships,  two  between 
Panama  and  Tahiti,  and  two  between  Tahiti  and  Australia.  I 
will  endeavor  to  perform  monthly  trips,  and  make  certainly  not 
less  than  ten  trips  each  way  within  the  year,  giving  an  average 
of  a  mail  every  thirty-six  days.  I  will  also  enter  into  bonds  to 
have  the  line  completed  within  a  stated  short  period,  and  finally, 
I  will  stipulate  that  the  mail  shall  be  delivered  from  Melbourne 
to  Aspinwall  within  an  average  of  35  days.'" 

I  am  confident  that  nothing  but  the  uncertainty  of  the  war 
would  have  prevented  American  capitalists  long  since  from  em- 
barking in  this  enterprise  ;  but,  as  I  remarked,  this  want  of 
confidence  in  the  several  governments  paralyzes  all  individual 
action. 

This  route  is  the  most  popular,  because  it  is  the  most  prac- 
ticable. Look  at  the  map,  lay  down  your  rule,  and  you  will 
find  almost  a  direct  line  from  England  to  Australia,  via  Panama. 
No  crooks,  no  turns,  one  straight  course.  Again,  in  case  of  ac- 
cident on  the  voyage,  the  steamer  can  bear  up  for  almost  any 
of  the  numberless  small  islands  of  the  Pacific  ;  while  between 
the  Cape  and  Australia,  or  Eden  and  Australia,  there  is  little 
or  no  shelter  for  a  steamer,  or  even  a  sailing  craft.  Even  as 
early  as  1851  the  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  on 
the  strength  of  the  evidence  of  nautical  men,  and  others  whom 
they  examined,  reported  to  Parliament  in  favor  of  the  Panama, 
against  either  the  Cape  or  Indian  route,  to  this  country. 

I  believe  that  the  average  of  twenty-five  voyages  of  the  Cape 
line  of  steamers  was  ninety-two  days,  while  the  general  average 
of  the  overland  mail  was  about  seventy-three,  and  even  that 
could  not  be  depended  upon,  when  the  Australian  steamer  was 
too  late  to  catch  the  Ceylon  or  Singapore  mail.  Then  a  fort- 


482  POSTAL    COMMUNICATION. 


night  was  lost.  Of  course  there  were  individual  cases  of  quick 
passages  by  both  lines  as,  for  instance,  the  Argo  in  64  days, 
and  the  Madras  in  58.  So  are  there  like  instances  in  the  clip- 
per ships  ;  the  James  Baines  in  64  days,  and  the  Red  Jacket 
and  Blue  Jacket  in  68  days. 

I  agree  with  what  you  say  in  regard  to  what  is  most  required, 
viz.  :  regularity  and  speed  ;  but  you  must  also  admit  that  steam- 
ships must  be  paid  for  their  labor,  and  you  cannot  seriously  be- 
lieve for  a  moment,  that  the  home  government  will  put  their 
hand  into  their  own  pocket  just  at  this  particular  time  to  cater 
to  your  wants.  See  what  the  Geelong  Advertiser  says,  when 
speaking  of  your  paper  :  "  The  conclusion  which  you  arrive  at 
is,  that  the  overland  route  presents  the  greatest  number  of  ad- 
vantages and  the  fewest  drawbacks.  You  are  also  sanguine 
enough  to  think  that  postal  communication  by  first  class  steam- 
ers to  and  from  Australia  would  pay  at  the  present  rates  of 
postage  !  This  is  a  mere  childish  delusion.  If  we  want  steam 
communication  we  must  be  prepared  to  pay  roundly  for  it. 
Crippled  as  the  Imperial  revenues  must  be,  after  the  prosecu- 
tion of  a  great  war,  it  would  be  equally  unfair  and  foolish  to 
expect  that  England  would  make  up  the  whole  of  the  certain 
deficit  of  any  scheme  of  steam  communication  with  the  old 
country." 

Surely  these  remarks  are  sensible,  and  tell  a  few  plain  truths 
in  regard  to  the  subsidy  and  the  postage.  Mail  Lines  usually 
require  some  government  support,  but  as  a  general  thing  they 
must  depend  upon  their  passenger  and  goods  traffic.  Speed  and 
regularity  command  high  freights.  Look  at  Collins  and  Cunard 
steamers  getting  £5  to  £1  per  ton,  when  the  rates  by  sailing 
clippers  rule  at  from  20s  to  30s.  The  same  proportion  would 
be  seen  in  the  Australian  trade.  The  North  Atlantic  steamers 


,'..    _  -jf.       -  ± 

EMIGRATION.  483 


run  between  Liverpool  and  New  York  in  ten  to  twelve  days,  a 
distance  of  3,000  miles.  Take  the  same  class  of  boats  and  mul- 
tiply by  five  (15,000  miles),  and  you  see  what  can  be  done — 
say  fifty  or  sixty  days.  Such  dispatch  of  course  would  bring  a 
freight  revenue.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  best  paying 
steam  lines  in  the  world  concentrate  at  the  Isthmus,  and  all  we 
have  to  do  to  get  our  share  of  the  dividends  is  to  join  Australia 
to  the  place.  Touching  freight :  the  several  changes  it  may  be 
said,  are  objectionable  in  taking  freight.  Of  course  they  are  ; 
but  are  they  not  also  by  the  Indian  route  ?  It  must,  however, 
be  admitted,  that  the  Panama  route  is  the  only  one  by  which 
light  freight,  such  as  ribbons,  silks,  fine  cottons,  millinery,  &c., 
can  come,  as  the  West  India  steamers  carry  large  quantities  to 
the  Isthmus.  But  in  the  passenger  traffic  the  same  remark  does 
not  apply,  for  nothing  relieves  the  monotony  of  a  long  voyage 
so  much  as  change  of  scenery.  Why  not  bring  the  same  argu- 
ments advanced  two  years  ago  in  favor  of  this  line  to  bear  now  ? 
All  said  at  that  time  that  the  steamers  would  go  full  of  pass- 
engers both  ways.  Had  anything  transpired  to  change  that 
opinion  ?  Certainly  not ;  the  field  was  never  so  clear,  and  the 
opportunity  never  so  practicable.  So  long  as  we  continue  to  ex- 
tract 50,000  oz.  of  gold  weekly  from  our  unlimited  mines,  and 
continue  our  annual  export  of  one  hundred  tons  weight  of  gold 
per  annum,  you  need  never  be  afraid  of  emigration  falling  off. 
Throw  open  the  agricultural  lands  to  the  world,  and  steam  lines 
and  sailing  packets  will  pour  in  able-bodied  farmers  and  emi- 
grants by  the  thousand. 

With  gold  unlimited,  and  cheap  land,  passengers  will  flock 
in  by  every  chance,  and  the  quickest  route  will  attract  the  trade, 
if  rates  of  passage  do  not  interfere.  Taking  this  view  of  the 
case,  England  and  Europe  would  pour  down  the  passengers  to 


484  TRADE    WITH    AMERICA. 


Panama  by  the  Southampton  and  West  India  lines.  The  Pacific 
Mail  Company  would  bring  up  the  Chilians  and  all  the  South 
American  traffic.  San  Francisco  would  send  down  her  travel- 
ers by  the  United  States  mail  line,  while  the  entire  passenger 
traffic  of  the  United  States  and  Canadas,  would  help  to  assist 
in  filling  up.  All  this  could  be  depended  upon,  and  you  must 
certainly  agree  with  me,  it  looks  well  upon  its  face.  Going 
home  on  the  return  voyage,  the  steamers  would  also  do  well. 
Every  steamer  would  have  as  much  gold  as  a  California  boat 
usually  takes,  and  at  much  better  rates  than  the  beggarly  price 
of  threepence  per  ounce  (less  than  half  per  cent,)  that  clipper 
ships  are  able  to  squeeze  out  of  the  Banks.  We  have  only  to 
look  at  the  passenger  list  of  the  Golden  Age  (which  was  before 
the  railroad  was  completed,)  to  see  what  might  be  expected  on 
the  outward  voyage.  Most  colonists,  returning  on  a  pleasure 
tour,  are  desirous  of  visiting  the  West  Indies  and  the  United 
States  ;  and  of  course  would  take  passage  to  Panama  :  even 
now,  to  accomplish  the  journey,  sailing  ships  to  Callao  and 
Valparaiso,  are  selected  by  many  returning  to  England  and  the 
States.  The  outward  business,  I  am  confident,  would  be  satis- 
factory, and  the  return  traffic  bids  fair  to  be  most  remunerative. 
Again,  look  at  our  immense  trade  with  the  two  Americas. 
Since  January  of  the  present  year,  we  have  paid  Chili  nearly 
half  a  million  sterling  for  her  13,000  tons  of  flour,  which  most 
opportunely  came  to  us  to  keep  down  famine  prices,  when  the 
rest  of  the  world  forsook  us  in  our  need.  Look  at  California 
too,  and  note  the  fleet  of  ships  that  has  been  and  will  continue 
to  pour  in  upon  us  their  deeply-laden  cargoes  of  breadstuff's 
and  provisions,  while  the  United  States,  on  the  Atlantic  side, 
contribute  between  one  and  two  millions  sterling  more  to  our 
commerce.  All  this  is  worthy  of  notice  ;  when  subsidies  are 


UNITING    COLONIES    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN.  485 


being  voted  for  a  mail  line,  I  cannot  speak  too  warmly  in  favor 
of  this  line.  Take  facts,  examine  statistics,  and  deal  with  the 
matter  in  a  plain  common-sense  way,  and  you  must  certainly 
agree  with  me,  that  the  Panama  route  is  the  most  practical  one 
to  join  these  colonies  with  Great  Britain. 

On  the  llth  September  a  very  able  discussion  upon  the  mail 
question  took  place  in  the  Legislative  Council  of  New  South 
Wales.  After  a  somewhat  animated  debate,  the  Herald  says, 
that  the  following  was  the  substance  of  the  opinion  of  the 
Council,  as  submitted  to  the  Government  : — 

"  That  the  route  which  will  afford  the  most  immediate,  the 
most  certain,  and  the  cheapest  mode  of  communication  by  steam 
between  Sidney  and  Great  Britain,  is  that  by  way  of  Singa- 
pore ;  and  that  the  most  rapid  communication  with  Great  Brit- 
ain would  be  afforded  by  the  establishment  of  steamers  by  way 
of  Panama,  and  that  if  that  line  could  be  opened  in  addition 
to  the  line  by  way  of  Singapore,  the  greatest  amount  of  ad- 
vantage possible  to  be  derived  from  steam  communication  from 
Europe  would  be  achieved." 

I  cannot  entirely  agree  with  the  first  part  of  the  proposition, 
but  most  energetically  endorse  that  portion  referring  to  Pana- 
ma. I  have  I  think,  fully  given  my  reasons,  and  hope  I  have 
made  myself  understood.  The  Indian  route  will  not  answer 
because  it  will  not  pay,  unless  by  receiving  a  heavier  bonus  than 
the  Government  can  afford  to  give.  The  Panama  route  with 
a  little  assistance  will  find  ample  support  in  passengers,  gold, 
and  light  freight.  I  repeat  it  has  never  been  tried — other 
routes  have  broken  down — whose  turn  is  it  now  ?  So  far  as 
the  project  of  the  colonial  steamers  is  concerned,  I  think  it 
would  receive  a  death-blow  from  the  statement  of  Mr.  Patter- 
son, the  Secretary  of  the  A.  S.  N.  Company,  that  via  Torres 


w. 

486  GENERAL    OPINION    IN    FAVOR    OF    ISTHMUS. 


Straits,  to  Singapore,  they  require  £8,000  per  month  (£96,000 
.per  year,)  bonus,  as  a  minimum  estimate,  in  addition  to  the 
entire  postage,  passenger,  and  other  traffic.  And  yet,  with  this 
startling  proposition,  our  good  friends  at  Sydney  are  most  san- 
guine of  having  a  speedy  communication  via  the  East !  I  hope 
they  will  succeed,  but,  to  me,  the  most  practical  part  of  the 
Council's  Committee  report  is  summed  up  in  Mr.  Williams'  testi- 
mony, touching  the  Panama  route.  Mr.  Donaldson  truly  re- 
marks, that  "  although  we  see  the  ripe  fruit  within  our  reach, 
it  was,  in  consequence  of  conflicting  interests,  difficult  to  pluck." 
Again,  "  rapid  communication  by  way  of  Tahiti  and  Panama 
might  be  ensured,  without  extraordinary  burdens  being  placed 
upon  any  colony  individually  ;  and,  with  the  aid  of  the  Grand 
Trunk  Line  from  Panama  to  Chagres,  a  most  rapid  line  of 
communication  between  Australia  and  Great  Britain  might  be 
established." 

I  believe  these  views  are  held  by  most  public  men  at  Sydney, 
and  I  cannot  but  think  that  all  the  colonies  will  see  it  in  the 
same  light.  The  Governor  General,  I  am  told,  is  in  favor  of 
it ;  and  Sir  Charles  Hotham,  who  is  acquainted  with  South 
America  and  the  Isthmus,  I  believe,  has  expressed  himself  in 
its  favor  ;  while  Sir  Henry  Young,  in  a  conversation  which  I 
had  with  him  on  the  subject,  spoke  intelligently  in  its  favor. 

If  the  A.  S.  N.  Co.  would  ask  for  a  smaller  subsidy,  and  take 
up  this  view  of  the  question,  they  will  be  far  more  likely  to 
succeed.  It  is  worthy  of  their  attention. 

In  commenting  upon  Mr.  Donaldson's  remarks  that  "  a  con- 
gress or  federal  council  would  be  of  great  benefit  to  the  colonies 
generally,  as  a  combination  of  intellect  and  intelligence  would 
be  beneficial  to  all,"  the  intelligent  editor  of  the  Sydney  Morn- 
ing Herald  speaks  ably  in  regard  to  it.  Hear  him  : — 


MAIL    SERVICE.  487 


"  Mr.  Donaldson  touched  on  the  importance  of  some  legal 
form  of  operation,  which  would  make  the  colonies  one,  where 
their  interests  are  one.  Day  by  day  they  stand  stretching  out 
their  hands  to  each  other,  but  divided  by  the  impassible  bound- 
aries traced  by  the  finger  of  a  surveyor  over  the  maps, — and 
where  a  parliamentary  spell  perpetually  thwarts  their  efforts  to 
co-operate.  New  South  Wales,  as  the  elder  colony,  should  as- 
sert the  only  pre-eminence  worthy  of  her  aspiration  ;  and  devise 
some  broad,  generous,  and  impartial  system,  which  may  unite 
all  these  colonies  for  their  common  good.  Such  a  task  would 
be  worthy  of  ambition  ;  and,  if  well  performed,  would  give 
strength  and  consistency  to  the  whole,  would  facilitate  their  rela- 
tions with  the  parent  country,  and  postpone  a  separation  which, 
though  a  necessity  of  the  future,  is  not  to  be  precipitated,  and 
which  may  long  be  delayed." 

Let  us  all  put  our  shoulders  to  the  wheel,  and  a  mail  service 
would  at  once  spring  into  life  ;  how  petty  jealousies  occasion 
odious  comparisons ;  and  such  views  divide  the  colonies  in  all 
great  public  questions  for  their  mutual  welfare,  as  surely  and 
effectually  as  the  surveyor's  chain.  This  evil  the  colonists 
should  at  once  uproot,  by  unity  of  action,  a  remedy  which  will 
prove  a  certain  restorative.  Let  us  grapple  with  the  mail  ques- 
tion on  a  broad  and  public  basis  ;  when  a  project  of  importance 
to  all  is  initiated,  let  us  work  with  a  will.  Let  this  Chamber 
place  their  views  practically  before  the  several  Chambers  of  the 
other  colonies,  and  in  that  way  reach  the  ears  of  the  several 
Governments,  as  the  views  of  practical  men  in  the  mercantile 
walks  of  life,  backed  and  endorsed  by  all  classes  of  the  commu- 
nity, who  watch  with  satisfaction  and  approval  every  step  of 
this  Chamber  that  marks  out  the  road  to  improvement  and  re- 
form. Whenever  such  a  project  as  this  is  mooted,  Australia 


488  MELBOURNE  THE  GRAND  CENTRE. 


should  speak  with  one  voice,  acting  with  energy  and  without 
division.  Such  questions  require  co-operation,  and  the  future  is 
big  with  enterprises  to  be  carried  out  for  our  mutual  improve- 
ment. Shipwrecks  and  disaster  remind  us  of  the  urgent  neces- 
sity for  a  lighthouse  at  King's  Island  ;  and  at  once  we  are  in 
communication  with  mercantile  men  of  our  sister  colonies,  who 
wait  upon  their  respective  Governments,  and,  all  pulling  in  the 
same  direction,  an  expedition  is  appointed,  a  surveyor  takes  the 
bearings  ;  and  I  am  credibly  informed  that  at  no  distant  period 
the  mariner  who  has  been  driven  by  adverse  winds  and  currents 
on  that  treacherous  coast  with  the  long-expected  mail,  will  see 
the  friendly  guide  shining  brightly  from  the  summit  of  Point 
Wickam,  that  points  him  out  his  proper  course.  In  this  initia- 
tory movement  we  see  the  power,  the  influence,  the  utility  of 
unity  of  action.  Let  us  deal  with  no  questions  not  practical,  but 
when  we  do  move,  let  it  be  with  the  determination  to  agitate 
the  matter  until  the  abuse  is  removed,  the  improvement  carried 
out,  and  our  object  of  benefiting  the  community  is  accomplished. 
Shortly  I  hope  to  see  this  mail  question  put  at  rest.  I  hope 
the  point  of  arrival  and  of  departure  will  settle  down  to  where 
it  belongs.  Melbourne  is  indisputably  the  grand  centre  of  all 
these  colonies.  Our  geographical  position,  our  immense  mine- 
ral resources  and  pastoral  wealth,  our  increasing  population, 
emigration  adding  to  it  at  the  rate  of  sixty  thousand  per  annum, 
and  extending  commerce,  our  exports  and  our  imports,  our 
youth,  ever  active,  ever  reaching,  ever  looking  onward.  Our 
unconquerable  progress  and  wonderful  energy  demand  this 
locality  as  the  rallying  point  of  all  the  rest. 

New  South  Wales  should  be  proud  of  us  as  her  enterprising 
offspring,  and  South  Australia  has  no  reason  to  be  ashamed  of 
her  progressive  brother.  While  Van  Piemen's  Land  may  look 


TELEGRAPHS.  489 


upon  us  as  an  athletic  youth  desirous  of  improving  our  laws,  our 
Government,  and  ourselves.  Admitting  then  if  you  please, 
that  Port  Philip  deserves  by  her  position  on  the  atlas,  her  re- 
sources and  her  progress,  that  the  mail  steamers  should  arrive 
and  depart  from  Hobson's  Bay  (although  I  should  not  wish  to 
throw  cold  water  on  any  scheme,  even  though  Sydney  were 
made  the  terminus).  How  then  are  we  to  cater  to  the  prejudi- 
ces of  our  friendly  neighbors  ?  I  will  show  you.  We  have  a 
telegraph  to  the  Heads  by  the  way  of  Geelong,  thanks  to  the 
Government.  Let  a  grand  trunk  line  of  telegraphic  wires  unite 
us  with  Sydney  and  Adelaide,  talking  with  the  townships  on  the 
way,  and  a  submarine  wire  along  the  ocean's  bed  to  Launceston, 
and  so  on  along  the  convict  road  to  Hobart  Town,  then  we  act 
in  union  as  brothers  and  as  friends,  the  magic  of  the  magnetic 
chain  would  remove  every  shadow  of  discord,  for  the  moment 
the  mail  steamer  was  signalized  off  Point  Nepean,  the  news  boat 
would  board  her  to  receive  the  brief  digest  of  news,  political 
and  social,  financial  and  commercial,  which  the  purser  would 
have  in  readiness  for  the  Exchange  newsman,  and  bear  it  with 
a  sure  and  swift  stroke  to  the  telegraphic  office  on  Shortland's 
Bluff,  where  the  manipulator  would  flash  the  intelligence  along 
the  electric  messenger  to  Melbourne,  New  South  Wales, 
South  Australia  and  Hobart  Town,  long  before  the  steamer 
touched  her  anchorage  in  Hobson's  Bay  !  All  would  then  re- 
ceive the  intelligence  at  the  same  time  ;  what  we  all  require  is, 
news,  late  dates,  intelligence  from  the  rest  of  the  world  ;  as 
conveyed  daily  through  the  interest  engine  of  modern  times,  the 
printing  press  ;  not  so  much  as  our  letters  ;  give  us  the  summa- 
ry of  news,  and  we  will  wait  a  day  or  two  for  details.  I  have 
thus  shown  how  all  may  be  satisfied  in  getting  the  latest  intel- 
ligence, and  then,  when  the  steamer  has  stopped  her  paddles, 


490  PUBLIC    ENTERPRISES. 


let  the  mail-bags  for  our  neighbors  be  in  readiness  for  their  des- 
tination by  the  splendid  fleet  of  colonial  steamers  for  which 
Australia  is  so  celebrated,  branching  out  from  Sydney,  of  which 
she  may  well  feel  proud  ;  and  fixed  days  being  appointed  for 
the  return  mails,  no  delay  or  annoyance  would  occur.  You 
may  remind  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  all  this  looks  very  well  on 
paper,  and  you  may  laugh  at  my  suggestions  as  chimerical  ; 
but  I  assure  you,  all  this  will  be  a  reality  at  no  distant  day. 

This  connecting  all  the  colonies  by  a  magnetic  telegraph  has 
long  been  a  project  of  mine,  as  may  be  seen  by  my  remarks 
made  a  few  days  after  landing  in  the  colony  on  the  4th  of  July, 
1853  ;  and  no  better  time  than  now  to  agitate  the  matter  can 
be  had.  Great  public  enterprises  will  soon  be  started,  that  will 
send  this  country  ahead  with  a  progress  deserving  of  its  great 
wealth.  The  moment  that  the  ghosts  of  all  our  mismanaged 
pioneer  joint-stock  companies  are  buried  and  lost  sight  of  in  the 
ghastly  records  of  the  Insolvent  court,  enterprises  of  public 
utility  and  sounder  basis  will  be  initiated,  and  what  is  better 
carried  out.  In  my  opinion  nothing  can  be  done  so  effectually 
to  wipe  away  local  prejudices  as  to  connect  the  colonies  by  a 
grand  trunk  line  of  magnetic  telegraph,  which  would  give  us  all 
intelligence  at  the  same  time.  Individual  enterprise,  under  lib- 
eral public  grants,  will  soon  start  it  on  the  journey,  and,  my 
word  for  it,  each  colony,  in  proportion  to  its  revenue,  would 
come  to  its  assistance  through  its  population.  I  saw  many  of 
the  merchants  at  Hobart  Town  who  would  take  their  share  of 
the  enterprise,  and  Adelaide  and  Sydney  are  not  likely  to  draw 
a  knife  across  their  own  throat.  Let  the  governments  work 
liberally  together  ;  let  private  enterprise  commence  with  the  tel- 
egraph ;  and  we  see  a  new  era  spring  up  with  a  steam  mail,  a 
railway,  and  an  electric  wire.  I  was  not  aware  that  we  were 


CONTEMPLATED    MAIL    LINE.  491 


to  have  the  advantage  of  Captain  Town's  presence  at  our  board 
to-day  ;  and  although  he  may  not  agree  with  me  on  every  point, 
yet  it  has  afforded  me  much  satisfaction  to  hear  his  views  regard- 
ing the  Indian  route,  which  I  sincerely  trust  will  be  carried  out. 
In  advancing  the  foregoing  opinions,  I  wish  it  to  be  distinctly 
understood  that  I  am  advocating  no  private  interests,  but  bring 
forward  my  views,  as  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
on  a  public  basis,  which  I  am  willing  to  give  my  time  and  in- 
dustry in  fostering.  I  propose  shortly  to  visit  the  United  States, 
and  if  by  the  time  I  arrive  there,  no  mail  line,  has  started  for 
Australia,  I  pledge  you  my  word  that  I  shall  not  return  until  I 
have  turned  every  stone  and  exhausted  all  my  ammunition,  in 
carrying  out  the  views  which  I  have  laid  before  you,  in  organ- 
izing a  first-class  steam  mail  line  between  Great  Britain  and 
Australia,  via  Panama,  by  a  course  of  post  not  to  exceed,  at  any 
rate,  one  hundred  and  twenty  days,  and  most  likely  not  over  a 
hundred  and  ten. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

COMMERCE  AND  RESOURCES  OF  AUSTRALIA. 

Introductory  Remarks — Population  of  Australia — Production  and  Lo- 
cation of  the  Gold  Fields — Price  of  Gold — Banking  Companies  in 
Victoria — Commercial  Affairs — Summary  of  American  Shipping — 
Imports  and  Exports — Flour  Trade — Insurance — Railroads — Custom 
House  and  Exchange — Postal  Communications — Distances  of  Routes, 
etc. 

MELBOURNE,  AUSTRALIA,  September  25th,  1854. 
FREEMAN  HUNT,  Editor  of  the  Merchants'  Magazine: — 

DEAR  SIR  : — Notwithstanding  our  antipodean  position,  shut 
out  as  we  are  from  the  civilized  world  by  irregular  mails,  your 
highly  valued  journal,  containing  its  usual  monthly  history  of 
the  commercial  world,  has  at  last  touched  our  shores,  and  noth- 
ing, I  assure  you,  in  that  line  is  hailed  with  more  pleasure  by 
our  countrymen,  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  who  for  the  last 
fifteen  years  have  read  its  pages  and  appreciated  its  worth. 
With  others,  I  am  indebted  to  an  old  gentleman  of  extraordin- 
ary proportions,  whose  Dominie  Sampson  labors  in  the  schools 
of  New  York  have  been  transferred  to  the  wider  field  of  intro- 
ducing American  literature  into  this  country,  and  whose  intin- 
erant  wanderings  from  counting-house  to  counting-house  have 
won  for  him  the  soubriquet  of  "  Old  Mortality."  I  have  intro- 
duced him  here  to  acknowledge  my  obligations  for  his  regularity 
in  bringing  me  the  Merchants1  Magazine,  and  for  his  kindness  in 
only  charging  me  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  for  each  number  ! 


EFFECT    OF   THE    GOLD    DISCOVERIES.  493 


As  your  researches  and  correspondence  penetrate  into  every 
shipping  port,  gathering  statistical  information  in  European, 
Asiatic,  and  African  countries,  as  well  as  in  the  two  Americas, 
and  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  you  may  not  consider  it  out  of  place 
to  devote  a  few  pages  of  your  Magazine  to  a  retrospective  view 
of  this  New  Holland  of  years  ago,  or  the  Australia  of  our  time. 

The  prolific  lands  of  this  beautiful  agricultural  country  were 
wrapt  in  the  repose  of  plenty  when  the  scientific  Hargreaves,  iu 
April  of  1851,  found  a  single  speck  of  sparkling  dust,  which 
proved  to  be  the  sentinel  of  illimitable  gold  fields  !  The  won- 
derful news  spread  like  wildfire  throughout  the  colonies,  depop- 
ulating the  townships,  and  changing  with  the  force  of  magic  the 
wild  uncultivated  abodes  of  the  savages,  of  the  emu,  and  the 
kangaroo,  into  a  whirling  scene  of  active  life  ;  and  from  the 
cloud  of  canvas,  and  rattling  of  picks  and  mining  utensils  along 
the  ravines,  resembling  some  gigantic  encampment  of  topograph- 
ical engineers  1 

The  magnetic  influence  of  the  "  monster  nugget "  soon  passed 
the  borders  of  this  island,  till  it  was  felt  in  distant  lands,  and 
the  tide  of  immigration  has  not  yet  commenced  its' ebb,  nor  will 
it  so  long  as  Eureka  veins  are  daily  touched  1  and  a  large  ex- 
panse of  agricultural  lands  are  thrown  open  to  the  gaze  of  the 
discontented  thousands  of  the  old  world,  whose  unhappy  condi- 
tion is  aggravated  by  the  horrors  of  European  wars  ! 

The  present  population  of  Yictoria  may  be  estimated  at  300,- 
000  souls  ;  South  Australia  at  80,000  ;  New  South  Wales, 
230,000  ;  Van  Diemen's  Land,  70,000  ;  and  New  Zealand,  15,- 
000  ;  say  in  all  the  British  colonies  of  the  South-eastern  Hem- 
isphere, 700,000  whites  ;  but  as  we  are  dealing  more  particular- 
ly with  this  colony,  by  running  our  eye  along  its  history  we  find 
that  in  1836,  (at  the  formation  of  the  customs,)  there  were  but 


494  GOLD    RETURNS. 


1,200,  showing  a  gradual  increase  until  1850,  when  it  was  70,- 
000 — at  the  end  of  1851,  after  the  discovery  of  the  gold  fields, 
it  had  reached  82,000,  the  increase  being  principally  by  arrivals 
from  the  neighboring  colonies. 

On  the  31st  December,  1852,  Westgarth  estimated  the  pop- 
ulation at  200,000,  since  which  there  has  been  a  steady  increase 
by  emigration,  etc.,  till  we  arrive  at  the  estimate  for  the  present 
time. 

This  population  has  not  been  idle  as  you  may  see  by  the  as- 
tonishing production  of  our  gold  fields,  which  may  be  accurately 
stated  as  follows  : 

VICTORIA  GOLD. 

Ounces.     Av.  price.     £. 
From  towards  the  end  of  September,  1861, 

to  31st  December,  1852, 4,608,188  77s.  17,741,524 

From  December,  1852,  to  December, 

1853,  .  . 3,090,342  77  11,897,816 

From  December,  1853,  to  September, 

1854,* 1,130,519     80       4,522,076 

8,829,049  84,161,416 

Showing  the  enormous  sum  of  £34,161,416,  or  at  the  par  of 
exchange  4s.  2d.  to  the  dollar,  $163,974,797,  and  weighing 
328  £  tons,  which  is  more  than  sufficient  to  load  any  clipper 
schooner  afloat,  and  which  the  insurance  offices  of  the  world 
could  not  cover  in  one  bottom  ;  and  these  wonderful  results  have 
been  accomplished  within  the  short  period  of  a  presidential  term, 
and  all  extracted  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth  by  the  hand  of 
man,  machinery  not  having  as  yet  been  introduced  to  any  ex- 
tent. 

*  This  return  comprises  only  what  is  brought  in  by  escort,  as  the  total  produc- 
tion cannot  be  ascertained  until  the  end  of  the  year,  when  stock  is  taken  of  all  gold 
in  the  hands  of  the  banks,  &c.,  and  when  the  quantity  brought  in  by  prirate  hands 
is  estimated. 


FOURTEEN    GOLD    FIELDS.  495 


The  arrivals  by  sea  over  departures  for  the  first  eight  months 
of  the  present  year  are  39,861,  being  at  the  rate  of  about  1,000 
per  week,  and  from  our  last  adduces  from  England  emigration  is 
setting  in  more  extensively  than  ever. 

If  the  past  shows  such  astonishing  statements  what  may  we 
expect  in  the  future  ?  when  the  whole  country  from  the  Gram- 
pians to  the  westward  of  Melbourne,  to  Lake  Omeo,  far  away 
to  the  eastward,  (better  seen  by  a  map  which  I  had  prepared,) 
is  entirely  auriferous.  The  following  official  return  giving  the 
latitude  and  longitude  of  the  fourteen  active  gold  fields,  may 
also  prove  interesting  : — 


Name  of  gold  field.          Lat.       Long. 

Mr.  Williams,  in  the 

Grampians,  .  .  37°  15'  142°  35' 

Avoca,  in  the  Pyr- 
enees    37  143  10 

Maryborough,  in  the 

Siuison's  Ranges  .  37  5  143  40 

Tarrengower,  in  the 

Bryant's  Ranges  .  37  6  144 

Ballan     .  .  37  33  144  15 


Name  of  gold  field.      Lat.          Lon. 

Anderson's  Creek,  37°  40'  145°  10' 

Plenty  Ranges,       37   35  145  10 

Mount  Alexander,  37  144  20 

Bendigo,     .     .     .  36  20  144  20 

Balaarat,    .     .     .   37   35  143  68 

Mclvor,      ...  87  145 

Goulbourn      .     .37     5  145  50 

Ovens,  .     .     .     .  36    30  146  40 

Omeo,    .  .  36   55  147   30 


These  diggings  extend  from  longitude  142°  35'  to  147°  30', 
and  from  latitude  36°  20'  to  31°  40',  over  districts  comprehend- 
ing upwards  of  30,000  square  miles,  or  more  than  half  the  area 
of  the  colony. 

The  receipts  from  the  several  mines  continue  on  the  same  ex- 
tensive scale  as  in  their  palmiest  days.  We  certainly  do  not 
hear  of  such  enormous  individual  success,  but  the  returns  are 
more  regular  and  can  be  now  very  nearly  reckoned  at  a  certain 
quantity  by  each  weekly  escort ;  and  although  some  two  or 
three  of  the  original  spots  have  not  lately  kept  up  their  stand- 
ards, other  fields  have  been  opened  which  promise  as  rich  re- 
sults as  those  which,  by  their  wonderful  productions,  enticed  so 
manv  to  these  shores. 


496  PRICE   OP   GOLD. 


The  number  of  ounces  brought  in  last  year  by  private  hand 
amounted  to  nearly  460,000,  and  as  traveling  is  becoming  more 
secure  every  day,  in  consequence  of  the  increased  traffic,  and  so 
many  of  the  bands  of  Bushrangers  being  broken  up,  it  is  ex- 
pected that  the  present  year  will  show  a  still  more  extensive 
quantity  brought  in  this  way.  On  this  subject  the  Argus  says : — 

"  Of  late  the  Melbourne  banking  companies  have  employed 
agents  at  the  various  gold  fields  to  purchase  gold  dust  direct 
from  the  diggers,  and  they  do  not  send  their  gold  regularly 
every  week  to  town,  so  that  the  escorts  are  less  than  even  an 
accurate  criterion  of  the  diggers'  success.  A  very  large  quan- 
tity is  always  brought  down  by  private  hand.  Even  the  ship- 
ments are  not  now  a  criterion  of  produce,  as  the  banks  do  not 
regularly  ship  all  their  gold  dust." 

The  present  price  is  £1.  Qs.  Qd.  per  ounce  ;  even  a  shilling 
higher  than  this  has  been  paid  for  the  produce  of  the  Balaarat 
mines,  which  is  the  finest  and  purest  ever  found,  being  worth 
3s.  per  ounce  more  than  the  produce  of  the  New  South  Wales 
mines. 

The  escort  fee  is  Gd.  per  ounce  from  all  the  diggings  except 
from  the  Ovens,  (the  farthest  from  Melbourne,  on  the  northern- 
most limits  of  the  province,)  when  it  is  Is.  per  ounce. 

There  is  no  mint  yet  in  operation,  although  one  is  to  be  short- 
ly established  at  Sydney. 

Russia  produces  £4,000,000  from  the  Ural  Mountains  ;  Cal- 
ifornia, I  believe,  has  reached  £11,000,000,  and  the  average 
yearly  produce  of  Victoria  I  may  state  at  £12,000,000. 

The  present  high  price  of  gold  has  been  brought  about  by 
what  I  considered  injudicious  management  on  the  part  of  the 
banks,  most  of  which  have  branches  on  the  several  diggings, 
and  purchase  the  gold  direct  from  the  diggers,  and  by  competing 


EXCHANGE.  497 


with  each  other  have  raised  the  price  to  the  entire  exclusion  of 
every  other  purchaser,  and  prevented  the  merchant  using  the 
article  as  a  legitimate  source  of  profit  on  its  shipment. 

The  extraordinary  imports  of  last  year  and  a  portion  of  this, 
having  gradually  gone  into  consumption,  or  changed  hands  at 
ruinous  prices,  large  sums  were  to  be  remitted,  and  the  banks, 
taking  advantage  of  the  brisk  demand  for  bills,  raised  the  rate  of 
exchange  since  May,  1853,  from  1  per  cent  discount  to  (within 
lately)  3  per  cent  premium,  which  the  increased  premium  of  in- 
surance, in  consequence  of  the  war,  has  raised  to  5  per  cent,  at 
which  rate  it  now  rules  ;  and  as  gold  keeps  pace  with  exchange, 
it  has  caused  the  former  to  rise  in  price  in  the  same  ratio  ;  but 
this  cannot  last.  From  present  appearances  our  exports  will 
soon  exceed  the  imports,  and  then  we  shall  see  the  tables  turned, 
and  it  would  not  be  surprising  to  see  exchange  at  a  discount 
within  nine  months,  for  the  moment  the  banks  are  out  of  the 
market  as  purchasers  of  gold,  the  price  drops,  and  down  comes 
exchange. 

In  December,  1852,  the  banks  purchased  bills  on  London  at 
9  a  10  per  cent  discount,  and  issued  their  drafts  at  7-|  per  cent 
discount.  It  will  thus  be  seen  how  exchange  has  fluctuated  in 
this  colony  within  a  few  months. 

I  consider  the  bills  of  the  joint-stock  banks  here  on  the  parent 
establishments  in  London  as  good  paper  as  the  banking  world 
can  produce,  consequently  shippers  need  not  advise  their  con- 
signees to  guaranty  such  bills  of  exchange. 

No  country  possesses  greater  banking  facilities  than  this,  as 
the  following  table  will  show.  Where  no  interest  is  allowed 
on  deposits,  which  have  acted  in  part  as  capital,  it  will  be  read- 
ily seen  that  well  managed  stock  of  this  kind  must  prove  a  profit- 
able investment  to  the  shareholders  : — 


498 


BANKING    ASSETS. 


ABSTRACT  OF  THE  AVERAGE  LIABILITIES  AND  ASSETS  OF  THE  BANKING  COMPANIES 
IN  VICTORIA,  FOR  TUB  QUARTER  ENDING  Jt'NE  30TH,   1864. 


LIABILITIES. 

Deposits  

£6  042  354 

ASSETS. 

Coin      

£2  962  155 

Kotes  in  circulation  . 

2,292,570 

Bullion     

594  734 

Bills  in  circulation     . 
Balances  due  to  other 
banks  

60,524 
1  287  566 

Landed  property  .     . 
Kotes  and  bills  of  other 
banks    .... 

90,275 
301  054 

Reserved  fund,  profit 
and  loss  account    . 

66,223 

Balances   due  from 
other  banks    .     .     . 

868,146 

Total     .... 

£9,739,237 

counted,    and    all 
other  debts  due  to 
the  banks    .         .     . 
Government  securities 

6,222,096 
319,246 

Capital  paid  in      .     . 

- 

Total      .... 

11,257,706 
£3  159  550 

Amount  of  dividend 

296.629 

Amount  of  reserved  profits  after  declaring  dividend      .     .          623,479 

The  great  facilities  for  obtaining  discounts  have  brought 
about  a  most  unsettled  state  of  affairs,  and  the  Insolvent  Court 
is  the  daily  scene  of  aggravated  cases  of  chicanery  and  fraud. 

Five  hundred  thousand  pounds  will  cover  the  entire  extent 
of  the  failures  of  the  last  twelve  months,  a  greater  portion  of 
which  have  recently  occurred,  but  the  next  will  show  a  wide 
table.  By  this  thinning  out  of  irresponsible  parties,  who,  not 
being  able  to  bear  prosperity,  recklessly  extended  their  liabili- 
ties, and  branched  out  into  extravagances  of  living,  we  look 
forward  to  a  much  sounder  state  of  finance. 

The  exports  of  wool,  tallow,  and  hides  are  also  very  consid- 
erable and  somewhat  affect  exchange,  but  only  to  a  limited 
extent.  Some  30,000  to  40,000  barrels  of  sour  flour  have 
been  re- shipped  of  late  to  England,  as  well  as  some  East  Indian 
produce. 

A  small  cargo  of  wet  salted  hides  has  been  shipped  to  Balti- 
more per  "  Juliet,"  but  no  wool  has  yet  gone  forward.  This 


KAURI    GUM.  499 


export  to  the  United  States  is  a  new  feature  in  the  trade  of 
this  place. 

About  the  early  part  of  1853,  the  high  price  realized  on 
Kauri  gum,  which  found  its  way  to  England  and  America  in 
small  lots,  where  it  was  used  for  varnishing  purposes,  caused 
several  secret  orders  to  be  sent  out  to  New  Zealand,  (where  it 
is  only  found,)  and  about  300  tons  have  been  shipped  to  the 
States  ;  considerable  lots  have  also  gone  to  England.  It  is 
very  difficult  and  tedious  to  procure,  and  although  there  is  plenty 
of  it,  yet  it  can  only  be  obtained  through  the  agency  of  the 
natives,  who  alone  have  had  the  gathering  of  it.  I  believe  it 
has  now  fallen  in  price,  and  leaves  now  but  a  very  small  profit. 

You,  sir,  who  often  chronicle  the  result  of  overtrading  and 
ill-judged  speculation,  will  readily  understand  the  position  of 
this  country  since  the  discovery  of  gold  to  the  present  time. 
Leaving  the  United  States  in  February  of  last  year  without 
any  definite  knowledge  of  the  internal  resources  or  the  business 
facilities  of  this  country,  and  arriving  in  Hobson's  Bay  towards 
the  latter  part  of  May  in  midwinter,  a  time  when  trade  is  as 
stagnant  at  that  season  as  in  Russia,  I  was  astonished  to  see  on 
every  side  of  us  several  hundred  ships  deeply  laden  with  goods, 
and  few  discharging.  Within  ten  days  some  six  or  seven  large 
vessels  with  valuable  cargoes  from  American  and  East  Indian 
ports  arrived  to  our  consignment,  all  clamoring  to  be  discharged, 
and  most  other  houses  were  in  the  same  predicament.  In  town, 
the  streets  were  crowded  with  hundreds  of  "  office-seekers,"  but 
the  demand  was  so  much  in  excess  of  the  supply,  it  was  difficult 
to  obtain  even  a  shelter. 

Lighterage  and  storage  went  up  a  hundred  per  cent,  and  every- 
thing available  for  the  purpose  was  put  in  requisition.  From 
305.  to  505.  was  paid  for  the  former  from  Hobson's  Bay  to  Mel- 


500  IMPORTS   COMPARED   WITH   POPULATION. 


bourne  Wharf,  and  storage  room,  even  in  yards  and  tents,  could 
not  be  had  under  3s.  to  4s.  per  ton  per  week.  In  anticipation 
of  famine  prices,  every  small  trader  had  filled  his  store  by  the 
1st  May,  before  tht  American  ships  began  to  arrive.  Imagine, 
then,  the  effect  of  having  cargo  after  cargo  of  American  notions 
poured  upon  such  a  market.  A  hundred  sail  in  four  months' 
time  !  Flour  was  sold  by  some  at  10s.  per  barrel  for  shipment 
to  England,  while  others  would  not  sell  and  held,  accumulating 
charges,  but  meeting  with  no  commensurate  advance. 

We  wrote  at  once  to  stop  shipments,  but  before  the  long 
journey  could  be  reached  by  our  irregular  mails,  more  ships  were 
dispatched,  ere  the  first  results  were  heard  from,  and  after 
advices  went  home  saying  "leave  us  alone  for  four  months,  and 
look  at  the  exports  before  you  commence  again,"  ship  after  ship 
continued  to  be  dispatched  from  the  United  States,  and  the 
consequence  has  been  in  many  instances  ruinous  to  the  pioneers 
of  the  trade. 

Our  population  of  less  than  300,000  could  not  consume  im- 
ports of  some  articles  sufficient  for  2,000,000,  and  as  no  large 
fires  swept  off  the  accumulating  stocks,  as  in  the  early  history 
of  San  Francisco,  and  the  surrounding  colonies  having  more 
than  they  required  direct,  needed  nothing  from  this  quarter. 
We  were  placed  in  the  position  of  a  community  of  settlers 
where  there  were  no  buyers  at  hand.  This  has  lasted  almost 
to  the  present  time. 

As  merchants  often  require  something  more  substantial  than 
a  simple  statement,  you  must  permit  me  to  endorse  my  assertions 
by  a  glance  at  a  few  figures,  compiled  from  a  list  which  I  have 
carefully  kept  since  my  arrival  in  the  colony,  giving  the  name  of 
every  American  ship  that  has  anchored  in  Hobson's  Bay  since 
January  of  1853  to  the  1st  September,  1854  :— 


FLKET    IN    HOBSON'S    BAY. 


501 


SUMMARY    OF    AMERICAN    SHIPPING    FROM    JANUARY,     1853,    TO  SEPTEMBER, 

1854,  SHOWING  HOW  MUCH  FAITH  OUR  COUNTRYMEN  HAD  IN   THE 

MARKET  OF  THIS    COUNTRY. 


From  New  York  — 
Ships    .     .     . 
Barks    .     .     . 
Brigs    .     .     . 
Schooners 

From  Boston  — 
Ships    .     .     . 
Barks   .     .     . 

62 

22 
2 
» 

A.V.  passage. 
Tons.     Days. 

30,828     121 
8,537    118 
385    140 
1,468    120 

Brigs     .     . 
Schooners  . 

.    2 
.    5 

AT.  passage. 
Tons.     Days. 
417     127 
662     124 

61      25,968 
Other  American  ports  — 
Ships     ...   12        6,120 
Barks    ...  12        3,384 
Brigs     ...     4           764 
Schooners  .     .     1           181 

127 

94 
90 
91 

83 

25 

29 

41,216 

14,917 
10,072 

112 
118 

29 

10,449 

Total,  173  vessels  of  the  aggregate  tonnage  of  77,633. 

Most  of  which  anenored  in  Hobson's  Bay  during  the  first 
twelve  months,  very  few  having  arrived  latterly.  This  immense 
fleet  came  deeply  laden  with  flour,  provisions,  lumber,  and  gen- 
eral cargo,  the  losses  on  which  will  only  be  surpassed  by  the 
amount  sunk  in  California. 

In  the  above  table  you  only  see  the  American  shipping,  but 
when  you  add  in  connection  the  combined  imports  from  other 
nations,  you  will  more  readily  understand  what  the  future  histo- 
rian of  Australia  will  term  the  "reckless  speculation  of  1853- 
54."  This  statement  it  has  cost  much  labor  to  obtain,  but 
being  from  official  sources,  may  be  relied  upon,  and,  as  with 
other  tables,  covers  the  whole  ground  from  year  to  year  siuce 
the  discovery  of  the  gold  fields. 


su 

Great  Britain      .... 
United  States       .... 
France  and  other  European 
countries     

MMARY    OF 

1851. 

£. 

637,863 
734 

2,101 
49,746 
27,988 
157,396 

IMPORTS. 

1852. 
£. 
1,560,529 
69,711 

33,451 
165,540 
51,740 
1,623,900 

1853. 
£. 
7,859,383 
1,719,656 

412,825 
1,451.427 
237.482 
2,913,874 

1854. 
£. 
6,208,970 
581,219 

386,597 
667.471 
220,976 
1,490,835 

East  India  and  China   .    . 
All  other  foreign  ports     . 
Colonial      

Total 

875.828 

8.504.871 

14.094,647 

8.556,068 

502  EXPORTS. 


SUMMARY    OF   EXPORTS. 

Half  Year  of 

1851.            1852.  1853.  1854,' 

£.                £.  £.  £. 

Great  Britain     .         .         .     661,900     5,993,605  8,036,280  4,313,266 

United  States      41,246  4,045 

France  and  other  European 

countries     .         .         . 3,140  9,593     

East  India  and  China,         97,085  167,587  41,173 

All  other  foreign  ports       .         3,977               235  199,491  198,195 

Colonial      ....     170,365     1,043,090  628,377  345,201 


Total,.         .         .         .     836,242     7,137,155     9,082,574     4,901,880 

When  you  look  at  the  above  statement,  can  you  wonder  why 
sales  were  not  effected  why  remittances  were  not  more  prompt, 
why  ships  did  not  receive  more  dispatch,  why  the  shipments  of 
last  year  have  proved  such  a  long-winded  business,  and  why 
the  result  has  proved  so  disastrous,  sinking  over  half  a  million 
of  dollars  in  flour  alone  ?  Surely  no  reasonable  merchant  has 
a  right  to  censure  responsible  agents  in  this  country  for  not 
doing  impossibilities. 

I  think,  however,  we  have  at  last  touched  bottom  ;  and,  as 
I  calmly  look  over  the  past,  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
a  brighter  day  is  dawning.  The  losses  of  the  first  adventurers 
in  the  trade  have  only  paved  the  way  for  those  who  may  enter 
the  field  later.  American  provisions,  hams,  bacon,  butter, 
cheese,  beef,  pork,  preserves,  etc.  ;  furniture,  wooden  houses, 
carriages,  wagons,  boots,  etc.,  have  been  introduced,  and  are 
much  liked. 

The  Australians  have  .got  a  taste  for  our  "notions"  which 
they  will  not  forget.  America  can  compete  with  Great  Britain 
in  most  articles  that  go  into  consumption  with  the  people. 


THE    MARKET.  503 


Goods  of  first  quality  only  should  come  out.  Take  flour,  for 
instance — Haxall  &  Gallego  have  a  reputation  here  which  no 
other  millers  can  establish.  This  flour,  with  only  one  or  two 
exceptions,  has  come  out  sound,  and  should  have  the  preference. 
Several  cargoes  of  Chilian  have  been  received  from  Valparaiso, 
but  the  bakers  and  others  prefer  our  barrel  flour  when  they  can 
be  obtained.  A  cargo  or  two  of  wheat  has  also  arrived  from 
the  western  coast  of  South  America,  but  in  a  musty  and  weevily 
condition,  and  was  unfit  for  anything  else  but  feeding  pigs  and 
poultry.  Haxall  &  Gallego  flour  has  lately  been  sold  at  65*. 
a  70s.  per  bbl. 

This  market  will  always  be  worth  the  attention  of  flour  ship- 
pers. At  a  moderate  cost  and  fair  freight,  small  cargoes,  if 
arriving  in  good  condition,  I  think  will  be  a  safe  investment. 

There  can  be  no  danger  of  loss,  when  Haxall  &  Gallego  can 
be  laid  down  here  at  50s.,  until  the  Australians  show  more  at- 
tention to  agriculture  than  they  have  since  the  discovery  of  the 
gold  fields.  California  says  she  shall  now  commence  exporting 
breadstuff's,  the  production  of  her  own  soil ;  but  so  long  as 
100  Ib.  nuggets  are  taken  out  of  the  Balaarat,  some  time  must 
elapse  before  we  can  follow  her  example. 

The  extent  of  our  wants  may  be  better  seen  by  an  import 
and  export  table.  The  increased  consumption  shown  by  the 
relative  comparisons  for  the  last  four  years  since  the  time  to 
which  this  return  is  made  up,  comparatively  little  has  arrived  ; 
but  much  will  be  wanted.  I  am  not  yet  prepared  to  state  the 
annual  quantity  required  from  abroad,  as  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  obtain  the  actual  production  of  this  soil. 


504  FLOUR   STATISTICS. 


SUMMARY   OF   THE   IMPORTS   OF   FLOUR. 

Half  Year  of 

1851.       1852.  1853.  1854 

Great  Britain,        ....     tons     391  3,588  500 

United  States, 494  15,036  3,720 

South  America  and  other  foreign  ports,     243  2,228  3,664 

New  South  Wales,  Van  Diemen's  Land, 

New  Zealand,  etc.,           9,314  3,381  2.522 

Other  British  colonies,           154  2,125  443 


Total, 10,596    26,358    10,849 

SUMMAET   OF   THE   EXPORTS   OF   FLOUR. 

Half  Year  of 

1851.      1852.  1853.      1854. 

Great  Britain tons     255     3,051 

United  States,         .         .         .         .  

South  America  and  other  foreign  ports,     215      

New  South  Wales,  Van  Diemen's  Land, 

New  Zealand,  etc.,           .                   .25          60  6,075        993 

Other  British  colonies,  .        .          


Total 25          60       6,545     4,044 

American  lumber  is  ranch  liked,  and  notwithstanding  hard 
pine  tongued  and  grooved  flooring  boards  were  sold  six  months 
since  at  about  the  freight,  the  article  is  now  sought  for  at  22/. 
per  M.  feet,  and  it  is  my  opinion  that  judicious  shipments  of  a 
really  good  article  of  assorted  American  lumber  will  generally 
meet  with  a  favorable  result,  unless  the  market  is  smothered, 
as  was  the  case  last  year. 

The  facilities  for  discharging  and  dispatching  ships  having  so 
much  increased,  the  usual  policies  of  insurance  covering  thirty 
days  after  arrival,  is  sufficient  to  protect  the  shipper  ;  but  form- 
erly, when  ships  were  often  sixty  to  one  hundred  days  in  port, 
the  risk  was  all  on  the  owners  of  the  goods.  The  marine  risk 
at  anchor  in  the  bay  is  small ;  while  the  burning  of  the  Ameri- 

'*%'"         :f~ 


NECESSITY    OF    HAVING    CONSIGNEES.  505 


can  ships  Columbia,  West  Wind,  and  Julia,  and  the  English 
ship  Protector,  by  mutinous  sailors,  or  by  "  barratry,"  some 
time  since,  add  much  to  the  fire  risk.  But  what  surprises  me 
most  is  the  comparatively  small  number  of  lighters  that  have 
gone  down,  when  during  the  high  rates  of  last  year  such  crazy- 
looking  crafts  were  employed.  When  goods  are  assured  to  the 
wharf  insurance  offices,  they  should  have  an  eye  to  the  lighters, 
as  well  as  exercise  much  care  in  the  survey  of  the  ships. 

I  hope  the  ship-owner  who  peruses  this  will  not  consider  it  in 
the  light  of  "  my  services  are  at  his  disposal,"  when  1  assure 
him  that  where  dispatch  in  effecting  sales,  or  in  getting  away 
a  ship,  is  concerned,  that  it  is  most  important  for  him  to  have 
a  consignee  ;  for  this  is  a  credit  country,  and  captains  would 
hardly  care  to  guarantee  Melbourne  paper,  especially  just  at 
this  particular  time. 

As  many  ships  belonging  to  the  merchant  fleet  of  last  year 
lost  their  crews  by  desertion,  the  country  is  well  supplied  with 
sailors  ;  and  as  their  roving  disposition  unfits  them  for  a  digger's 
life,  after  a  short  experience  at  the  gold  fields  they  are  glad  to 
ship  again.  I  would,  therefore,  recommend  ship-owners  to  en- 
gage their  crews  for  the  run  out,  with  the  understanding  they 
should  be  paid  off  when  they  have  discharged  the  cargo  ;  for 
when  shipped  for  the  voyage  out  and  home,  or  by  the  month, 
the  restraint  on  board  leads  them  to  desert,  when  otherwise  they 
would  most  likely  remain  ;  and  in  several  cases  when  sailors 
have  been  detained  against  their  will,  the  ships  have  been  set  on 
fire — a  most  serious  objection  to  the  forcing  system. 

The  canal  to  connect  Melbourne  with  Hobson's  Bay  is  only 
a  vision  of  the  Provisional  Directors  ;  ten  years  hence,  with 
prolific  gold  fields,  the  project  might  be  accomplished,  were  it 
not  for  the  almost  certainty,  with  the  present  extensive  immi- 


506  DRY   DOCKS    NEEDED. 


gration,  of  the  limits  of  the  city  extending  to  the  beach  at 
Sandridge  within  that  period.  What  we  most  require  are  suit- 
able dry  docks  for  the  repairing  of  ships.  Now  we  have  noth- 
ing of  the  kind,  and  we  are  under  the  disagreeable  necessity  of 
going  to  our  sister  colonies  where  there  are  facilities  for  heaving 
down,  but  nothing  on  a  more  extended  scale.  Public  energy 
or  individual  enterprise,  I  hope,  for  the  credit  of  this  young 
commercial  giant,  will  shortly  remedy  this  evil. 

So  long  as  California  continues  to  yield  up  her  precious  trea- 
sure under  the  beautiful  flag  of  our  own  fair  land,  I  can  scarcely 
expect  an  extensive  immigration  from  the  United  States  to  this 
El  Dorado  of  the  Southern  Seas  ;  but  when  I  remember  that 
it  was  only  last  week  318  Ibs.  weight  were  taken  out  of  one 
hole  at  Balaarat,  valued  at  about  $73,000,  (one  nugget  alone 
weighing  uiuety-eight-and-a-half  Ibs.,)  and  the  exhorbitant  price 
of  vegetables  and  dairy  produce,  and  demand  for  mechanical 
labor,  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  strong,  able-bodied 
men,  farmers,  mechanics,  or  manual  laborers,  who  are  not  afraid 
of  hard  work,  will  in  a  short  time  accumulate  their  share  of 
the  precious  dust. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  fine  opportunities  to  the  cultivators  of 
the  soil,  upon  the  supposition  that  our  new  governor  will  show 
a  much  more  liberal  policy  in  entirely  unlocking  the  lands, 
hitherto  held  on  license  by  the  squatting  interest ;  but  there 
can  be  no  fitter  place  to  observe  that  this  is  not  the  country 
for  young  men  whose  business  capacity  is  concentrated  in  a  fast 
trotter  or  in  a  new  prima  donna.  White  kids  are  not  wanted 
here,  for  there  is  no  Italian  opera. 

I  have  already  given  you  a  statement  of  American  shipping, 
but  I  will  now  cover  a  broader  field,  condensing  in  a  few  figures 
the  maritime  fleet  from  all  parts  of  the  world  that  have  cast 

'  * 

«.  *       •*»     \SE&    *          -v 

It 

•*•  •• 


ARRIVALS. 


507 


their  anchors  in  Hobson's  ! 
our  extended  Commerce,  I 

StJMMA 

From 
Great  Britain     

Bay,  and  for  a  bett 
review  the  arrivals 

BY  OP   ABSIVAL8. 

xT-T"1851-  ' 

Number 
vessels.         Tonnage. 

83            47,885 

er  comparison  of 
since  1851  :  — 

--—1852.  , 

Number 
vessels.           Tonnage. 

218          147,831 
11              5,061 

9              2,270 
17             6,041 
82             8,201 
1,093          192,349 

France  and  other  Euro- 

6 
10 
16 
369 

1,630 
2,325 
4,541 
43,545 

99,926 

249,220 
53,712 

12,658 
35,561 
31,510 
248,479 

East  India  and  China       .     . 
All  other  foreign  ports 
Colonial         

Total           

483 

1853. 
544 
118 

39 
94 
129 
1,227 

1,380          360,753 

Half  year  of 
1854. 
294         143,655 
42           18,092 

45           14,101 

40           15,497 
52           12,327 
619         143,290 

United  States      

France  and  other  Euro- 
pean places     

East  India  and  China      .     . 
All  other  foreign  ports    .     . 
Colonial     

Total 

2.151 

631.140 

1.092 

846.962 

The  startling  figures  explain  themselves  ;  and  while  on  this 
subject,  a  few  words  on  the  increased  facilities  of  discharging, 
may  not  be  out  of  place. 

A  year  since,  sixty  to  ninety  days  was  considered  good  dis- 
patch ;  now,  a  month's  detention  is  thought  unwarrantable 
delay.  The  most  extraordinary  instances  of  dispatch  were  the 
American  clipper  ship  Red  Jacket,  handling  1,800  tons  cargo, 
etc.,  in  twelve  working  days,  a  fortnight's  time  only  elapsing 
from  the  arrival  in  and  departure  from  this  port !  and  the  Amer- 
ican ship  Lantao  having  discharged  her  entire  inward  cargo  of 


508  THE    RENTALS. 


6,316  barrels  and  half-barrels  of  flour,  ballasted  and  sailed  again 
in  a  week's  time  ! 

These  results  show  what  can  be  done,  and  shipowners  need  no 
longer  fear  that  their  ships  will  remain  as  store-houses  in  Hob- 
son's  Bay.  Already  some  of  the  largest  and  finest  clippers 
afloat  have  visited  our  shores,  and  we  have  no  doubt  that  so 
long  as  Europe  and  Great  Britain  are  teeming  with  their  dis- 
contented thousands,  immigration  will  not  only  be  the  means  of 
selling  American  ships  in  England,  but  will  eventually,  in  the 
event  of  protracted  war,  bring  us  out,  under  the  neutral  flag, 
the  finest  specimens  of  marine  architecture  which  the  shipyards 
of  America  can  produce.  I  predict,  at  no  distant  day,  that 
first-class  clippers  with  a  little  steam  power  will  do  our  entire 
carrying  trade. 

The  Red  Jacket  made  the  run  in  67-i-  days  under  canvas — 
the  exact  time  from  anchor  to  anchor  consuming  69  days  1 1 
hours  and  13  minutes,  being  the  quickest  passage  on  record  by 
a  sailing  vessel,  adding  another  laurel  to  the  shipbuilders  of  the 
United  States,  and  more  than  equaling  the  average  performance 
of  the  mail  steamers,  not  excepting  the  overland  route. 

The  unprecedented  rentals  and  never-before-heard-of  rates  of 
storage  attracted  the  attention  of  capitalists,  who,  notwith- 
standing the  extraordinary  price  of  building  materials,  and 
wages  of  masons,  carpenters,  etc.,  at  2Z.  per  day,  commenced 
erecting  warehouses,  some  of  which  would  vie  with  any  in  the 
"United  States  or  England.  I  should  think  that  £4,000,000. 
have  been  invested  in  stone  stores  and  other  buildings  within 
the  limits  of  the  city.  This  of  course  has  lowered  rents,  and 
storage  can  now  be  had  for  Is.  6d.  or  2s.  per  ton  per  week,  or 
50  per  cent  less  than  the  rates  paid  last  winter. 

Our   streets  are   all  macadamized.      Our   wharves  line  the 


PUBLIC    ENTERPRISES.  509 


Yarra  for  a  mile,  and  oar  new  Governor,  Sir  Charles  Hotham, 
proposes  to  make  still  farther  improvements. 

The  railroad  to  the  Bay,  two  miles  long,  is  completed,  and 
was  opened  for  passenger  traffic  on  the  13th  inst.,  and  if  suc- 
cessful, as  I  think  it  will  be  under  proper  management,  will 
only  prove  the  "  wedge"  to  open  the  entire  country  ;  and  if  we 
can  believe  the  promises  of  our  new  Governor,  he  will  shortly 
prove  himself  the  Railway  King  of  Australia.  When  I  find 
by  statistics  the  annual  cost  of  transporting  goods  to  the  town- 
ships, and  mines  of  the  interior,  exceed  two  millions  sterling,  I 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  high  price  of  labor,  and  the 
great  distance  which  we  have  to  transport  the  iron,  will  prove 
no  argument  against  the  extensive  formation  of  railways  in  a 
country  where  there  are  no  parliamentary  expenses,  no  vested 
interests,  and  liberal  public  grants.  The  whistle  of  the  engine 
on  the  Sandridge  road  has  not  only  surprised  the  native  born 
Australian  of  Victoria,  but  will  ere  long  startle  the  aborigines 
of  the  interior. 

Ground  has  been  broken  at  Geelong  and  also  at  Williams- 
town  to  connect  them  with  the  capital  by  railroad,  but  this  can- 
not be  completed  for  at  least  three  years  to  come.  Williams- 
town  was  intended  as  the  principal  port  of  this  colony,  but  has 
not  kept  pace  *vith  Melbourne  or  Sandridge  in  the  rapid  pro- 
gression which  has  taken  place  since  the  discovery  of  gold,  and 
is  now  too  far  behindhand  to  be  feared,  at  present,  as  a  rival  to 
either  of  the  above  places.  Government  have  completed  a  tel- 
egraph to  Williamstown,  and  have  contracted  to  continue  the 
electric  lines  to  the  Heads  by  way  of  Geelong.  Plans  are  drawn 
for  a  new  Custom  House  in  conjunction  with  an  Exchange,  to 
cost  about  sixty  thousand  pounds,  and  a  very  creditable  build- 
ing is  now  being  erected  for  the  exhibition  of  articles  intended 


,•' 


510  POSTAL    COMMUNICATION. 


to  be  sent  to  the  Crystal  Palace  of  the  French  ;  and  the  near 
completion  of  the  water  works  leads  us  to  suppose  that  we  shall 
soon  have  a  plentiful  supply  of  pure  water,  which  will  not  only 
do  away  with  the  present  objectionable  water-carts  which  one 
meets  at  every  turn  of  the  streets,  but  in  connection  with  proper 
se.werage,  will  add  much  to  the  healthy  condition  of  this  youug 
city.  What  we  most  want,  and  what  is  most  essential  to  our 
future  prosperity,  is  a  regular  mail  communication,  whether  by 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Suez,  or  Panama,  or  direct  by  paddle- 
wheel  steamers,  I  care  not  which,  but  there  certainly  seems  to 
be  a  fair  opening,  more  especialy  by  the  way  of  Panama,  under 
the  present  liberal  grants  of  the  Colonial  Government  for  the 
enterprising  capitalist. 

Since  writing  the  foregoing  I  have  received  the  report  of  the 
select  committee  of  the  Sydney  Chamber  of  Commerce  on. the 
subject  of  postal  communication  with  England,  comprising  not 
a  little  information,  and  covering  much  valuable  statistical 
matter.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  distances  aTe  reckoned  to 
Sydney.  Melbourne  is  about  500  miles  by  sea  from  that  port, 
which  would  give  it  an  advantage  of  that  distance  in  the  case 
of  vessels  coming  from  the  westward,  and  vice  versa  when  sailing 
from  the  eastward. 

I  am  strongly  of  opinion  that  Panama  should^have  a  decided 
preference,  as  a  steam  line  by  this  route  would  connect  at  that 
place  with  regular  established  packets  to  all  parts  of  the  world. 
Sufficient  coals  can  be  placed  at  Tahiti  from  Newcastle,  N.  S.W. 
A  better  instance  of  the  desirableness  of  this  route  is  the  fact 
of  the  steamship  Golden  Age  making  the  run  from  Sydney  to 
Tahiti  in  13A  days. 

The  Sydney  Chamber  of  Commerce  recommend  memorial- 
izing the  Legislature  of  New  South  Wales  for  an  annual  grant 


DISTANCES.  511 


of  £12,000  for  five  years,  in  addition  to  the  entire  postage,  for 
a  monthly  postal  communication  direct  with  Great  Britain,  and 
this  body  is  evidently  in  favor  of  Panama.  I  have  no  doubt 
Victoria  would  come  forward  in  an  equally  liberal  manner  to 
secure  the  same  objects  for  Melbourne. 

The  average  time  made  by  the  overland  route  is  about  68 
days,  the  last  mail  brought  her  news  in  57£  days  only  !  and  the 
General  Screw  Steam  Company's  ships  have  averaged  about  70 
days  via  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  I  would  strongly  recom- 
mend writing  by  these  opportunities,  particularly  by  the  over- 
land, as  tffis  has  invariably  proved  the  quickest  means  of  com- 
munication with  this  country,  taking  advantage,  however,  of 
the  chances  of  any  clippers  sailing  direct  from  the  States,  the 
Nightingale  having  been  only  75  days  from  New  York  !  From 
New  York  the  average  passage  has  been  120  days,  and  from 
Boston  116  days.  In  sending  letters  from  America  to  England 
for  transmission  by  the  Australian  mail,  it  should  be  observed, 
that  at  present  the  service  is  performed  on  alternate  months  ; 
for  instance,  the  overland  mail  leaves  on  the  8th  of  September, 
and  the  Screw  Company's  steamer  on  the  4th  of  October,  and 
so  on. 

COMPARATIVE   DISTANCES   OF   THE   RESPECTIVE    ROUTES    BETWEEN 

SYDNEY   AND    ENGLAND. 

Miles 
Via  Cape  of  Good  Hope 12,634 

Cape  Horn,  estimated  the  same. 
Via  Panama,  viz : — 

Milford  Haven  to  Navy  Bay 4,552 

Panama  to  Tahiti 4,488 

Tahiti  to  Sydney 8,351 

By  land 46 12,487 

Or  Southampton  to  Chagres  via  St.  Thomas 4,612 

Panama  to  Huaheine 4,562 

Huaheine  to  Sydney 8,277 

By  land 46 12,497 


512  COMMERCIAL   HISTORY. 


Via  Egypt,  Singapore  and  Torres  Straits 

Southampton  to  Singapore  .....................  7,987 

Singapore  to  Sydney  via  Torres  Straits,  inner  rout  4,195 

Land  journey  ...............................  252  -  12,484 

Via  Egypt,  Singapore  and  Cape  Leeuwin. 

Southampton  to  Singapore  ..........  .  ..........  7,987 

Singapore  to  Sydney  ..........................  4,630 

Laud  journey  ................................  252  -  12,869 

Via  Egypt,  Ceylon  and  Cape  Leeuwin. 

Southampton  to  Galle  .........................  6,393 

Galle  to  Sydney  ..............................  5,300 

Land  journey  ................................  252  -  11,945 

Via  Egypt,  Aden  and  Cape  Leeuwin. 

Southampton  to  Aden  .........................  4,259 

Aden  to  Sydney  ..............................  7,184 

Land  journey  ................................  252  -  11,695 

I  have  thus  carefully  reviewed  the  Commercial  history  of  this 
port  since  the  hidden  treasures  of  the  country  were  brought  to 
light,  and  have  given  you  my  experience  of  its  general  trade, 
and  my  opinion  of  its  future  prospects.  For  many  of  the  sta- 
tistics I  am  indebted  to  the  Honorable  Mr.  Childers,  late  Audi- 
tor General,  now  the  Collector  of  the  Customs.  The  others 
are  endorsed  by  the  highest  Commercial  authorities  —  they  may, 
therefore,  be  considered  accurate. 

If  this  condensed  review  gives  any  additional  light  to  those 
interested  in  the  Australian  trade,  I  shall  feel  amply  repaid  for 
having  brought  so  many  facts  within  the  borders  of  your  val- 
uable journal. 


-rfib 


-•XL  . 


f 

u_ 

3 


.^E-UNIVERS/A         v>AOS-ANGElFj> 


o      u. 


•iiilill 

AA      000145968    4 


